Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals

The Pistons have wasted 10 seconds of their offensive possession.

JR Smith was a little disappointed; he was just a hair's breadth away from making the steal.

At that moment, Li Chen grabbed J.R. Smith's head and said, "JR, well done."

Li Chen's words invigorated JR Smith, who shouted, "Chen, don't worry, we'll definitely win!"

Li Chen was speechless. "I think so too, but can you please not be so loud? Can't you consider how the Pistons players feel?"

Li Chen glanced at Billups, and sure enough, the guy's face looked ashen, like he'd eaten something nasty.

A moment later, Billups passed the ball to Prince.

Prince kept shifting his feet and trying to find an opening to shoot, and just then he suddenly made a shooting motion.

JR Smith took off without a second thought, roaring in his mind, "You think you can slap me in the face Smith? No way!"

Just then, a smug smile appeared on Prince's lips. A rookie is just a rookie, no matter how talented he is, he's still a rookie, Prince thought with disdain.

After shaking off JR Smith, he knew time was running out, so he immediately jumped for a three-pointer, praying that it would go in!

However, JR Smith has the [Headpat] buff, and JR Smith's currently in an excited state, making him a player worthy of an All-Star.

Prince had just jumped up when he felt a tremendous force coming at him.

Snap!

Jr. Smith delivered a chase-down block to Prince, and the ball went out of bounds again.

Tracy McGrady Square Garden erupted once again in a wave of cheers.

Jr. Smith thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of being adored by thousands, and he quietly savored it all.

At this moment, the referee's voice rang out again, signaling the Pistons to inbound the ball.

But the Pistons only had three seconds left.

In the end, the Pistons failed to get the ball out, and the Knicks successfully defended the Pistons' 24-second shot clock.

Possession changed hands, Knicks began their final offensive play.

Pistons' Larry Brown also called a final timeout.

In the Knicks' rest area.

"Chen, the final attack is yours to execute," Alvin Gentry said solemnly.

Li Chen nodded.

With that, Alvin Gentry looked at the players on the field and said seriously, "I don't care what method you use, you must pass the ball to Chen, do you understand?"

All the players nodded in unison.

Alvin Gentry was satisfied with the players' attitude, but he couldn't help wondering, "Is this really a good idea? Shaving his coach's head again... is this really appropriate?"

However, Chen is not wrong. If his teacher knew that he had gone easy on him, he would definitely feel that he had looked down on him.

He knew very well that his teacher valued his reputation highly.

This is really difficult! Ugh, I don't want to think about it anymore.

Larry Brown exclaimed, "You damn bastard! You know your teacher cares about his reputation? Then why can't you let me win a championship?"

In a domestic live streaming room.

"This offensive play will determine the fate of the Pistons, Coach Zhang, what are your thoughts?"

Zhang Weiping thought for a moment and said, "Coach Alvin Gentry will definitely give the final attack to Chen."

Sun Zhengping nodded and then said, "I agree with Coach Zhang on this point. However, Chen will definitely be closely guarded. Also, the Pistons will be tight on JR Smith, who performed well in this game and is a powerful scorer. Therefore, Chen has to rely on himself. He must carefully choose when to shoot."

Zhang Weiping nodded, then complained, "Chen is good in every way, except he's too selfless. That's really not good. He really needs to learn from Kobe in this respect."

Sun Zhengping "..."

Sun Zhengping didn't want to talk to Zhang Weiping anymore, and said to himself, "Next, let's take a look at the Knicks' last attack."

The players from both teams began to enter the court, and as expected, the Pistons focused their defense on Chen.

I wonder who the Pistons will leave open?

"They actually left Da Zhi open? Da Zhi has performed well these past few seasons, and his three-point shooting has been very consistent, around 40%. He's even more consistent playing alongside Li Chen. Ariza rookie Ariza, his shooting consistency is much better. I really don't understand why Larry Brown would make this decision," Sun Zhengping said, puzzled.

Lost in thought, Sun Zhengping continued his commentary, "Chen had no chance to receive the ball, so Crawford had no choice but to pass it to Da Zhi."

"Da Zhi, after receiving the ball, he didn't attempt a shot. Hurry Wallace the Roaring Heavenly Venerate to help defend."

"Da Zhi passed the ball to Ariza, who had made an open run. My God! Ariza actually used a fake move to shake off Prince was trying to help defend."

"Good opportunity! Chen took advantage of Prince's help defense to shake off Billups' defense."

"My God! What's going on? How did the basketball suddenly end up in Da Zhi's hands? This is too surreal, how did Chen do that?"

"Da Zhi, who was wide open, shot the ball the instant the clock hit zero! Beautiful! That was a beautiful basket!" Sun Zhengping shouted excitedly.

Yes, not only Sun Zhengping, but even domestic fans felt a surge of anger when they saw the Pistons leaving Wang Zhizhi open.

This blatant contempt resonated deeply with them, how could they not be angry?

But Wang Zhizhi's subsequent rebuttal gave them a great sense of satisfaction, like drinking an ice-cold beer on a hot summer day.

So all the fans sent messages in unison: "Li Chen, well done!" and "Da Zhi, well done!"

A deluge of text messages flooded the platform, causing it to crash once again.

After calming his surging emotions, Sun Zhengping continued his explanation:

"92 to 92, Da Zhi is great, he really brings glory to our country."

"Da Zhi's roar to the sky proved the humiliation he felt after being left unmarked."

"That's Chen's vision," Sun Zhengping remarked sincerely.

Zhang Weiping nodded excitedly.

"Now let's watch the replay to see how Chen passed the ball to Da Zhi Da Zhi."

In slow motion, Ariza didn't shoot but passed the ball to Li Chen. When the ball got close, Li Chen didn't catch it but casually swung it, but the ball accurately deflected in the direction of Wang Zhizhi.

The fans in Madison Square Garden were stunned by Li Chen's pass; their mouths were agape, their eyes wide, and they looked utterly incredulous.

But the next moment, a deafening roar of cheers erupted in Madison Square Garden.

They shouted, "Magic..."

Yes, that pass was magical, like Magic.

Meanwhile, in the VIP room, Dolan jumped up without any regard for his image; Li Chen's pass was incredibly imaginative.

Dolan has now discovered he's become a die-hard fan of Li Chen, and he's even taken basketball to a whole new level.

The Knicks successfully forced the game into overtime.

Larry Brown, sitting in the Pistons' bench, rubbed his temples, feeling frustrated. He never expected Li Chen to have this trick up his sleeve.

After overtime began, Li Chen frequently used his drives to the basket to attack the Pistons' defense.

Both Wallace have already committed five fouls. It should be noted that Li Chen's random S-rank Skill in this game is [faking a collision]. As long as they touch Li Chen's cylinder even slightly, they will be called for a foul by the referee.

There's an old saying, "It's not the thief you should fear, but the one who's got his eye on you." Li Chen has his eye on the two Wallace; how can these two pillars of the Pistons' paint possibly escape unscathed?

Within two minutes, both Wallace fouled out, and without them, the Pistons Wallace n't stop the Knicks' offense at all.

In the end, the Knicks lost the game 105-98, and after being swept by the Clippers in last season's NBA Finals, they were once again swept by the Knicks led by Li Chen.

The Knicks, led by Li Chen, have prompted reflection within the basketball world: why was the seemingly invincible Pistons eliminated by Li Chen's team two years in a row?

At that moment, they began to seriously question the concept of invincible defense, because they saw from the Knicks what it meant for the best defense to be offense.

Li Chen's emergence accelerated the NBA's shift towards a small-ball era.

The Pistons' top scorer in this game was Wallace the Roaring Heavenly Venerate, who played 35 minutes, shooting 7-for-10 for 20 points and 10 rebounds, including 4-for-5 from three-point range and 2-for-2 from the free-throw line.

Although Wallace the Roaring Heavenly Venerate performed well, he got into foul trouble and had to leave the game in the third quarter. Even when he came back in the fourth quarter, he had to play cautiously and couldn't fully utilize his Defensive Ability. Otherwise, the Pistons wouldn't have been in such a passive position.

These days, NBA teams are incredibly competitive. If you can't shoot three-pointers, you really can't compete with the Knicks; their three-point shooting is just too accurate.

The other Pistons players scored around 14 or 15 points each.

For the Knicks, JR Smith scored 22 points, making 5 of 10 three-point attempts.

The other players averaged around 15 or 16 points.

In this game, Li Chen scored 29 points on 8-of-20 shooting, with 13 assists, including 4-of-6 from three-point range and 9-of-10 from the free-throw line.

During the post-match press conference.

The reporter asked, "Chen, how did you manage that amazing pass?"

How did he do that? He must have just guessed, of course. Li Chen thought to himself.

Although he thought that way, he couldn't say it out loud, so he said, "You all saw it at the time. The Pistons players were already rushing towards me. If I were triple-teamed, I wouldn't be able to jump at all. So instead of forcing a shot, I passed it to a teammate."

Before the reporter could ask further questions, Li Chen continued, "As for why I passed the ball to Wang Zhizhi, it's because, in my view, only Wang Zhizhi was in the best position to pass the ball that way."

At this point, the reporters suddenly realized what was going on.

The next day, Kobe, holding his baby son, watched Li Chen's incredible pass with some frustration. At that moment, he remembered what Old Bass had told him.

At that moment, Little Kobe was babbling excitedly in Kobe's arms.

This scene made Kobe was already in a bad mood, even worse; he now had an urge to get a paternity test.

Suppressing his displeasure, Kobe said, "My dear son, that's not your godfather, you've mistaken him."

But Little Kobe Bryant ignored his father's words and remained very excited.

Kobe "..."

Somewhere in Los Angeles.

Jamie Pierce looked at Kevin Federline and asked, "So, did you sleep with Britney?"

Kevin Federline shook his head, frowning. "No, I don't know why, but she's very resistant to it, even to holding hands. Hey! Jamie, your daughter wouldn't be...?"

Jamie Spears frowned deeply. He found his daughter increasingly strange. After a moment's thought, he calmly said, "Drug her, then have sex with her."

Kevin Federline was slightly taken aback. He looked at the calm-faced Jamie Spears with a strange expression, thinking, "Is Britney really this man's daughter? It's hard to imagine that he would say such a thing so calmly."

However, he couldn't care less about all that. After all, he could not only get money, but also do some things he liked with popular female celebrities, so why not?

On the other side, the Heat also swept the Wizards 4-0, setting up a Eastern Conference Finals matchup against the Knicks.

The Suns and the Dallas Mavericks are tied 2-2 in the second round of the Western Conference Playoffs.

The Spurs lead the Supersonics 3-1.

The Eastern Conference Finals will begin on May 24th.

During this period, Li Chen spent his time studying the Miami Heat's tactics in addition to training.

Looking at the Playoffs footage, the Miami Heat's offense was entirely focused on Wade, who averaged over 22 shot attempts per game. This clearly shows that Wade was the Miami Heat's absolute core player.

As for O'Neal, well! Li Chen shook his head; he was, after all, an outsider.

Li Chen thought this way because Wade's shooting percentage was only around 45%, while O'Neal's was over 50%. Moreover, O'Neal only took about 14 shots per game.

Li Chen really admired him for this; this fat guy was truly a ninja turtle!

As his thoughts wandered, Li Chen came up with a plan: if he could shut down Wade, the Knicks could easily defeat the Miami Heat.

Even if the Miami Heat temporarily change their core player, it's not a problem. So what if they keep letting O'Neal do one-on-one in the paint?

O'Neal is too old now; he can't play a full game at all. He can only play three quarters at most.

Moreover, his basket only scored two points, while the Knicks are full of three-point shooters. If the Miami Heat can get going, can they really withstand the Knicks' onslaught? Li Chen didn't believe it.

Besides, even if O'Neal really has a breakout performance, isn't there still the Hack-a-Shaq strategy?

On May 21, the Suns defeated the Dallas Mavericks 130-126.

They successfully advanced to the Western Conference Finals to face the Spurs.

On May 23, the Spurs defeated the Suns 121-114 in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals.

GDP has matured, and they have become the strongest combination in the league.

On May 24, the Knicks visited the Space Center.

Before the game started, fans flooded into the stadium early, all wearing Miami Heat jerseys, and their loud cheers were deafening.

The entire aerospace center stadium was filled with a strong basketball atmosphere.

As soon as the match began, cheers and shouts erupted in the stadium, and the fans' enthusiasm reached its peak.

The atmosphere at the scene was electric, with everyone seemingly immersed in the rhythm of the competition.

Both fans and players felt the intensity of the game, and they hoped the Miami Heat could defeat the seemingly invincible Knicks.

However, after the game started, the Knicks told the Miami Heat fans, "Your grandpa will always be your grandpa."

At the start of the first quarter, Li Chen focused his defense on the Miami Heat's star player Wade.

His individual skill, coupled with the "Iron Wall and Bronze Barrier" buff, caused Wade was already not very accurate, to frequently miss shots.

By the end of the first half, Wade had only scored 6 points, two of which were field goals.

Miami Heat coach Van Gundy knew they had to change their tactics.