Chapter 138 Second Championship of Career

In fact, Zheng Yang's idea for this game was very clear. If his teammates were in good shape, he would just fight against the opponent directly. Those barefoot are not afraid of those wearing shoes. It is still uncertain who will win or lose.

But if his teammates are in average condition, Zheng Yang will use his off-ball running in the first three quarters to distract the opponent's defensive formation and create offensive opportunities for his teammates. He himself will conserve his energy and wait until the fourth quarter to go all out.

At the beginning of the game, after seeing that his teammates' outside shooting was not good, Zheng Yang immediately started his second plan. He pretended to be dead in the first three quarters to conserve his energy, and then went all out now.

"There are only 12 minutes left in the game. I know your offensive touch is not very good today, but it doesn't matter. Leave the offense to me and you just need to do a good job of defense.

See Tim, Manu, and Parker over there? Whoever comes up in front of you, defend them with all your strength.”

Zheng Yang continued, and the others looked at each other and then nodded heavily.

Now that Zheng Yang has spoken, let’s work hard!

Anyway, they are already prepared for failure, so at worst they can try again next year!

Larry Brown had no objection. Since Zheng Yang was willing to attack, let him attack. What if…

When players from both teams returned to the court in the fourth quarter, Popovich noticed something was wrong. Normally, the Knicks' morale should have begun to dissipate. Why did the opponent look like they were thinking of rolling up their sleeves and working hard?

There is another thing wrong. Normally, Larry Brown would let Zheng Yang rest for two to three minutes in the fourth quarter to recover his strength.

But in this game, Larry Brown didn't even let Zheng Yang rest for one minute. Popovich would certainly not be stupid enough to think that Larry Brown wanted to let Zheng Yang play for six minutes before calling it a day. Obviously, the opponent still wanted to fight with them.

Then let’s give it a try and see who can beat who!
Although Zheng Yang came on the court early, Popovich still followed the normal rotation and did not let all GDP go up to fight with them at once. Anyway, they are still leading by 6 points...

Well, now we are only leading by 3 points, because Zheng Yang, who just came on, hit a three-pointer directly in front of Parker. His movements were so smart and fast that he didn't look like a player who played in the fourth quarter. Instead, he looked like a young player who just came on the court.

Popovich didn't know whether to say that he was young and recovered his strength quickly, or whether to say that this guy was slacking off in the first three quarters!
Damn, are the young people nowadays so cunning? They don't have any moral principles at all!
The energetic Zheng Yang is definitely a killer for the Knicks. If he is not double-teamed, he will play one-on-one and no one can defend him.

As soon as he was double-teamed, he passed the ball to other Knicks players and asked them to attack the inside. Without Duncan, the Spurs' inside was very empty, and both Big Boss F and Crawford could fight in and out.

Although Ginobili and Parker were both on the court at the moment, neither of them scored on their first shot. In addition, the Knicks' counterattack led by Zheng Yang was quite fierce, so the score was not only quickly leveled, but also widened to 5 points.

Duncan was getting a little restless, and he looked at Popovich, who wanted to emulate the Zen Master's calm and relaxed attitude, thinking, "Let the Knicks take the lead, and I will continue at my own pace."

But then he thought, there is no Michael Jordan in his own team, while the opponent has a player who claims to be able to surpass Michael Jordan in the future.

If you keep pretending like this, you'll end up overdoing it and it will be terrible.

So he quickly waved his hand and asked Duncan to go up and take charge.

"Tim, pay attention to your defense in the paint when you go up there. The Knicks have been attacking the paint recently. We can't let them score so many points in the paint anymore."

Popovich instructed, Duncan said nothing, nodded, and trotted up.

Larry Brown, on the other side, saw Duncan stand up, patted Big Ben on the butt and told him to get ready to play.

Both teams now have their full starting lineups.

As both sides focused their attention, the intensity of offense and defense became stronger and stronger, and the score began to rise slower and slower.

No matter which side the Knicks and Spurs want to score, they have to try their best.

And because the Spurs had the advantage of the GDP trio, with only three minutes left in the game, the Knicks went from leading by 5 points to trailing by 2 points.

The fans at the scene kept cheering for the home team. If they wanted to win the championship, they had to win this game.

Keep going, Knicks! It's not time to give up yet!
This is the voice of all Knicks fans.

At the critical moment, Quentin Richardson stood up. This guy has been really good at shooting three-pointers this year, especially in the playoffs. His current shooting percentage is 45.2%, a career high.

In this crucial battle, in the last three minutes, he made two three-pointers and helped the team overtake the score.

You know, before this game, this guy also tried to take two three-pointers, but he didn't make either one.

Who would have thought that he would score at this time? It's really like: I won't score unless it's the crucial ball!
When there were only 3 seconds left in the game, the Knicks were already leading by points. After Ginobili's three-pointer missed and Zheng Yang protected the rebound in front of Duncan, the Spurs had no choice but to choose the foul tactic.

So the next short dozen seconds actually lasted for several minutes.

Fortunately, Zheng Yang's free throws did not go wrong at the critical moment, and the Knicks eventually won the game with a 3-point advantage, with the final score being 106:109!

Amid the cheers of the fans at the scene as if they had won the championship, the Knicks successfully changed the score to 2:2. Next, they will return to the Spurs' home court for a tough decisive battle.

It means a lot to the Knicks players to be able to win such an important game at home, which may even change the outcome of this year's championship.

This tells them that their victory in the first game was not due to luck, they do have the strength and they still have a chance.

The biggest contributor to this game was naturally Zheng Yang. In the last quarter, the Knicks scored 37 points in a single quarter, and Zheng Yang scored 22 of them alone.

Although his score was a little higher due to the Spurs' desperate struggle in the final moments of the game and Zheng Yang kept going to the free throw line, no matter what, judging from Zheng Yang's performance in the last quarter, he was the biggest contributor to the team's victory.

The second biggest contributor was naturally Quentin Richardson. Although this guy only scored 20 points today, which was not particularly explosive, his last two three-pointers were quite crucial.

If one of them missed, the Knicks would most likely lose the game today.

After the game, reporters packed Madison Square Garden, but the players did not stay in the arena for too long to accept media interviews.

For them, the key is to rest well and prepare for the next game. …

In everyone's imagination, the Knicks' Game 5 should be more difficult than any previous game, and there is a high probability that they will lose the game.

But that was not the case. The Knicks won. They swept the game away like a whirlwind. It could even be said that the victory came with ease.

Zheng Yang was not the biggest contributor to the victory. He only scored 28 points in this game. Perhaps this score is already quite good for others, but compared with the previous two wins, 28 points is nothing special.

So who is the biggest contributor to the victory?

No one is! Or rather, everyone is the biggest contributor to the victory!
This game was the best performance of the Knicks team in the entire series, and it was truly a case of everyone working as a team.

All the players on the court scored points, six players scored in double digits throughout the game, and all five starting players scored in double digits. Moreover, the team did not fight with the opponent until the last minute, and the score was already widened before the end of the fourth quarter.

If you ask why?
It can only be said that the Knicks in this game are the real Knicks, the No. 1 Knicks in the Eastern Conference during the regular season!

Although they lost both games to the Spurs, they have defeated a number of strong teams in the league, including the Suns, Jazz, Mavericks, Pistons, etc., and they themselves have the strength to compete for the championship.

Just in the first few games, these guys didn't perform well, perhaps because of their bad mentality or lack of experience.

But in this game they really found themselves again, and caught their opponents off guard. They are one step closer to the championship, just a little bit away.

3-2!

The advantage is already on the Knicks' side. They will return to their home court for the next game. They want to win the championship at home and they want to bring a new championship to this city.

G6 was another battle like Mars hitting the Earth. All the players of both teams tried their best to play. The ratings of this game were also the highest-rated NBA Finals since the end of the Lakers dynasty.

The game was attended by many big names, including various basketball stars and bigwigs who came to watch the game. The Knicks' general manager and owner also all came to the scene, hoping to witness their team win the championship at home.

The game was very close from the start, with the score alternating between the two teams, but neither side was able to successfully widen the score gap.

However, in the last five seconds before the end of the game, the Knicks had already led by three points, but with Ginobili's three-pointer to tie the game, the game went into overtime.

In overtime, one of the few advantages of the Knicks was revealed - they had more physical strength.

After all, the main players of the Knicks are younger than those of the Spurs.

With Zheng Yang's perfect performance of 12 points in the overtime stage, the Knicks finally won the series with a 3-point advantage and also won this year's finals championship.

When Zheng Yang dribbled the ball and used up the last offensive time, this crazy and exciting night had just officially begun!
All the players on the Knicks' bench rushed onto the court, and all the major media also came up with their cameras and cannons. Countless cameras were aimed at Zheng Yang, who was holding a basketball with a complicated expression.

He was not standing in the center of the court at this moment, but he had become the center of the court.

Perhaps because they noticed the complicated expression on this guy's face, no one came up to disturb him for a while. Everyone just looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to say something.

As for Zheng Yang at this moment, he did not have any urge to cry for joy. He just turned around, glanced at the field, and then breathed a sigh of relief.

it is finally over!
Fortunately, this is a perfect ending. They used all their wisdom, gave everything they could, and finally succeeded in turning a team at the bottom of the league into this year's champion team.

It’s really not easy!
Even Zheng Yang felt tired when he got to this point today!
But he finally proved himself again. In this league, the best way to deal with boos and doubts is to prove himself with the championship trophy.

He used his second championship trophy and second FMVP in his career to tell the world: the Mavericks' championship that year was not won by him, and the guys who sent him away will miss his existence all their lives.

Thinking of this, Zheng Yang suddenly felt excited. He ran up to the technical platform in three or two steps and then shouted with all his might.

"Everything is possible!"

At this moment, the fans have not left yet. They are still here to witness the awarding ceremony of the championship trophy. Seeing Zheng Yang's actions, they immediately shouted in unison: "MVP! MVP! MVP..."

From today on, in the hearts of Knicks fans, the God of Basketball is no longer Michael Jordan, but Zheng!
No matter what happens in Zheng Yang's future career, Knicks fans will always admire him, like him and respect him.

His arrival really brought this team from hell to heaven!
Let’s take a look at the reactions of others after they won the championship. Eddy Curry, Quentin Richardson, and Crawford, who have never won a championship, started shouting excitedly after their victory.

"We are the champions, we are the champions!"

Ben's performance was much calmer, with just a smile on his face. It was a pleasant surprise for him to win such a championship when his career was beginning to go downhill.

Now thinking about my choice during the offseason last year, I can’t help but feel a little fortunate!
In fact, one of the reasons for choosing to come to the Knicks was because the basketball market here is large and attracts a lot of attention.

Big Ben doesn't think this team has any real chance of winning the championship, but the basketball market here has aroused his interest.

I didn't expect that guy actually did it!
I really didn’t expect this!
Before the game was over, Big F had already stood up from the bench, holding his head in his hands, with tears in his eyes!

Got it, got it, got it! He finally won the championship. Even though he was not the strongest player on the team, he was still a part of the team!

This championship trophy means a lot to F! Maybe it will change his life...

As for head coach Larry Brown, the old man also seemed very excited. Although Zheng Yang was the main contributor to this championship, his contribution was also indispensable.

As the saying goes, "An old man in the family is like a treasure." This season, whether in the regular season or the playoffs, Larry Brown has used his rich experience on the field to help the team move forward.

He is certainly not the best head coach in the league, but for the Knicks, he is so suitable for them!

(End of this chapter)