The rest is just noise

(I accidentally skipped a chapter while writing)

In the remaining nine regular season games of the 1987-88 season, the Knicks only lost one game.

In the final game of the regular season, the Knicks face the Pacers at home.

The Pacers are one of the tank teams this season, and it's hard for the Knicks to lose.

Louis decided to do a trick that might make them lose. In this game, he rested all the main players.

That is, Stockton, Miller, Wilson, McHale, and Ewing all rested.

The move definitely pissed off their opponents, but the lineup the Knicks used to replace their main roster wasn't bad.

The final battle of the regular season is Hornacek, Ellis, Rodman, Oakley, and John Salley.

Their second team still has three future All-Stars.

With Wayman Tisdale as the core, the Pacers launched a fierce attack on the Knicks.

In addition to Tisdale, the Pacers also had Horace Grant, an acquaintance of Louis.

In another timeline, Grant was the third leader of the Bulls' first dynasty, but here, his future is hard to say.

His competitor was Tisdale. It took the Pacers three years to finally decide that if they continued to reuse Tisdale, there was only a dead end waiting for them.

However, if Tisdale is not reused, they will have no other players available.

Grant is very good, but he is not the core material, so shredding him is the only way.

This is the tragedy of weak teams in small cities. They can hardly rely on signings to change their predicament.

The Knicks rested all their main players. Behind their bench, men in suits headed by You Wan sat in a row. They didn't look like they were injured.

This is definitely a mockery of their opponents, but how sure are the Pacers of responding to the Knicks?

The answer is 0.

They cannot respond.

After the game started, the Knicks relied on the outside offense of Hornacek and Ellis, and then used the defense of Selley and Rodman to lay the foundation for the trend of the game.

Louis doesn't have a strong desire to win.

The Knicks now have 64 wins and 17 losses, ranking second in the Eastern Conference and third in the league, behind the Celtics with 68 wins and the Trail Blazers with 66 wins.

Moreover, the gap is so "big" that even if they win the last game, they can't catch up.

So it doesn't matter to Louis whether he wins or not, so he makes substitutions like a revolving door.

Those who usually don't have a chance to play got a lot of time tonight.

At the most outrageous time, the Knicks' on-court lineup consisted of Billy Donovan, Cooper, Stevens, Brad Rohaus, and Song Tao.

To be honest, this lineup is bad enough.

Excluding this game, Donovan has only played 2 games this season. The competition within the Knicks is too fierce. His role in the team is often more like an assistant to the assistant coach.

Louis or other assistant coaches will ask him to do some things that are not his job as a player.

Stevens is basically a full-time player on the murder press team.

If the Knicks use a murderous press, his playing time will be more. If not, his playing time will be less, or even not at all. Because his offense has indeed reached a new level of badness.

Luo Haosi and Song Tao are a pair of twins. The former is always put in the second position by Louis to make adjustments, and the latter, as Ewing's substitute, performs well.

The most outrageous thing is that this lineup also includes Cooper, a favorite for the annual Defensive Team.

This is the foundation of the Knicks, with stars on all three teams.

There were three players with the best performance tonight, namely Ellis, Rodman and Hornacek.

Hornacek filled Stockton's vacancy to the greatest extent, and his playing style was also very smooth; Rodman began to look a little like Louis was familiar with, covering the whole court, extremely eye-catching rebounds, and one-on-one.

4 points, 17 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks per game, everywhere. This is why every time Louis receives a call to apply for a trade, everyone wants Rodman.

The Pistons are even willing to trade Robert Parish for Rodman, but of course, it's not a one-way exchange. In addition to Rodman, Louis also has to play Michael Cooper.

This senseless request was rejected by him on the spot.

The greater Rodman's evolution, the more dangerous Charles Oakley's position becomes.

This hitter that Louis admired very much has definitely felt the changes. The little brother who was casually punished by him has become more important in this team than him.

Rodman's defense is eye-catching enough, but that's not all.

Without Ellis' offense, it would be difficult for the Knicks to defeat the Pacers.

Ellis was almost traded not too long ago.

It was almost, if there hadn't been that last heart-to-heart talk, Louis would have sent him away.

After talking to Louis, Ellis became the team's ninth man.

He averaged less than 20 minutes per game and scored 11 points per game. Last season, he was still tough. Such a change is extremely rare.

On this night, Ellis played 37 minutes.

It had been a long time since Louis had seen him playing so happily, running smoothly, shooting confidently, and his shots getting smoother and smoother.

He scored 41 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists. In Louis' eyes, he is the contemporary Klay Thompson.

It's simply criminal to have someone like that as a substitute.

What Louis can be sure of is that this year's Knicks, in terms of lineup depth alone, are rare in history. No matter which team they are, the thickness of the lineup cannot be compared with them. It stands to reason that winning the championship is guaranteed.

Yes, but wheel fighting is just a specific tactic in the game and cannot be used as a winning strategy. The Celtics they faced were not a team with a poor lineup.

However, the Celtics are not invulnerable.

If Thomas had developed a three-pointer in the years since he left, and if Bird had not been troubled by back injuries, then Louis would certainly not be "wishful thinking."

If one of the above two things happens and the other does not happen, the Celtics will have no dead ends. Even if the Knicks' lineup is infinitely deep, it will be almost impossible to defeat the Celtics.

Basketball is so unreasonable. The most typical example is the 18 Cavaliers in another timeline. In the playoffs of that year, James' performance has become a myth. 21 Durant's two shocking games in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

The brilliant performance was said to be just a routine operation in the 18th LeBron James playoffs.

Why do you have this impression? It's very simple. In terms of book strength, the Cavaliers that year were the worst in 15 years. From the first round, they relied on James, the only super giant in the Eastern Conference, to use all their resources to reduce dimensionality.

Continuously pass levels and defeat enemies.

James is worthy of being the first player. He brought a team that didn't deserve to play in the finals to the finals. This is why "it won't work even if Jordan comes". Because Jordan really has never had a similar experience, you can't be right about something.

Nothing that has ever happened means he can definitely do it.

This is the upper limit brought by super giant.

Under normal circumstances, the upper limit of the Celtics' Big Three is much higher than the current upper limit of the Knicks' immediate combat capabilities.

However, Bird's back injury and Thomas' three-point shooting were always unstable, allowing Louis to see an opportunity.

As for the results this year, he doesn't know.

Donovan's performance was not bad, but there were no surprises either.

He is not an NBA-level player. He can only be regarded as a marginal player. It is difficult for him to have a chance in a weak team, let alone the Knicks.

This year, he got few opportunities, but no wonder Louis.

There's really no way Louis would put him ahead of anyone else.

Tonight, Donovan played 24 minutes, the most playing time in his rookie season. With the Knicks' N.UCLA system, he scored 6 points, 2 rebounds and 7 assists, which is a good statistic.

In the end, the Knicks defeated the Pacers 114-99.

They ended the regular season with a record of 65 wins and 17 losses.

The Pacers' head coach is an old acquaintance of Louis.

Jack Ramsey, the legendary head coach of the Trail Blazers, regarded Indiana as the last stop of his career.

Ramsey was dissatisfied with the Knicks' arrangement for this game.

"It is a humiliation for us to rest the five main players." Ramsey looked very unhappy.

Louis didn't want to say something too harsh, and he couldn't find a good reason.

"The playoffs are the most important thing. I don't want to increase the risk of injuries to the main players in a game that doesn't affect the rankings," Louis said lightly.

If it were someone else, Louis would change "does not affect ranking" to "doesn't matter."

Ramsay wanted to say more, but there was not much he could say.

What else can I say? The Knicks gave the opportunity and they didn't take it. It's that simple.

"Well, I hope that letting the main players rest for this game will help you defeat the Celtics in the playoffs." Ramsey said sinisterly, "If I can help you, I will be very happy."

"Jack, don't be like this. In the final analysis, it's yourselves who are at fault." Since the old man refuses to talk nicely, you can't blame Louis for disrespecting his elders. "If you win this game, why don't you lose your temper now?"

It's excusable, but you'd better take a closer look at the score. I rested the five main players, and in the end you lost by 15 points. You say, why should I let the main players play this game? It won't matter whether they play or not.

Change. So, you shouldn’t be angry.”

"In the final analysis, I gave you the chance to defeat me, but you failed to live up to your expectations."

Louis spread his hands, and the livid expression on Ramsey's face told him that from now on, there will be another coach in the league who has bad things to say about him.