The rest is just noise

The Knicks' 30-game winning streak was tempered by a war of words off the court.

But the media power in New York can always use post-smoking to promote the Knicks' success to people.

From late March to early April, the behind-the-scenes stories of the Knicks' 30-game winning streak were unearthed.

The Knicks appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and they detailed their 30-game winning streak in an article with the largest number of words in the magazine's history.

This 30-game winning streak not only allowed Benjamin Wilson to lock in the MVP, but also allowed the Knicks to firmly occupy the first place in the league.

Some people say that their status came a little late.

If this state is maintained from the beginning of the season, not to mention whether the Lakers' 33-game winning streak can be broken, it is expected to break the record for the most wins in history set by the Knicks just last season.

Louis didn't see it that way.

For him, it is a good thing that the team's state has ups and downs at the beginning of the season, improves in the middle, and then rises sharply after the All-Star break.

Their goal is to win the championship, not the regular season record.

Excessive pursuit of regular season results can easily lead to problems.

The most typical ones are the 96 Bulls and 16 Warriors.

The 1996 Bulls didn't do anything deliberately when they set a record for regular season wins. In 82 regular season games, they had a huge gap inside. Rodman only played in 64 games, Luke Longley played in 62 games, and even Billy Wynn

Nington missed 11 games due to injury.

It was natural for them to win 72 games under such circumstances.

Looking back at the Warriors, Louis, as a witness, in hindsight, he felt that the Warriors had too many fairy balls, too much persistence, and too much concentration in that magical regular season, especially when the Bulls' record was right in front of them.

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After putting in too much energy for the regular season, when we came to the playoffs, an unfortunate wave of injuries struck, and the rest is history.

Therefore, the Knicks' state curve that first declined and then increased is a good thing for Louis.

He doesn't care about records or anything, they are all in his name anyway.

April 2, 1990, the NBA's offseason, was the NCAA's national finals, with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (hereinafter referred to as UNLV) facing off against Duke.

Louis originally wanted to watch the live broadcast at home, but Coach K from Duke University strongly invited him to come and watch the game live.

One thing Louis learned from Auerbach was to have a good relationship with the famous coaches in college basketball.

No matter how advanced the NBA's scouting system is, the advice from these famous coaches is still very important.

This is the reason why Auerbach has picked the right answer repeatedly in the draft over the years.

Since Coach K invited him, Louis naturally wanted to show him some respect and take the entire Knicks coaching staff to the McNichols Sports Arena to watch the game.

This is the home court of the Nuggets. Louis originally wanted to invite Nuggets coach Doug Moe to watch the game, but unexpectedly learned that Coach Moe had been having a heated argument with the team management recently.

His extreme coaching style has been unable to bring glory to the Nuggets.

This team has passed its prime, and the management needs to consider the future.

Coach Mo thinks he has no problem and is unwilling to change. In this case, of course he is not in the mood to come to watch the game.

"Expedition, please introduce it to us?"

Louis said teasingly to Zhao Yuanzheng.

As the general manager of the Knicks' scouting department, Zhao Yuanzheng knows the two teams participating in the finals very well: "In terms of tactical coordination, Duke is better, but UNLV's recent competitive state is better."

Louis saw two acquaintances.

Duke's Christian Laettner and UNLV's Larry Johnson. Louis knew the former because Laettner was a member of the Dream Team, and the latter because Louis accidentally saw each other against the Pacers in the playoffs in his previous life.

The famous four-pointer.

Zhao Yuanzheng said that Duke's tactical quality is stronger, while UNLV's condition is better.

In the college arena, tactical literacy is a key link.

Looking at it this way, maybe Duke has a better chance of winning?

After the game started, Louis found that he was thinking too much.

In the first half, Duke was firmly suppressed 47 to 35.

If the game continues with this trend, it is certain that UNLV is a better team, one level stronger than Duke.

But the second half was a bloody massacre.

The playing style of UNLV's inside pillar Larry Johnson reminds Louis of Wes Unseld. Compared to Unseld, he has a greater influence on the offensive end.

After grabbing the rebound in the penalty area and throwing a pass, UNLV's counterattack and fast break were picturesque.

Duke was completely defeated.

In addition to Johnson, Louis was also impressed by UNLV's Stacey Augmon SF/SG. His body is surprisingly flexible and he is able to perform many difficult movements that test waist strength.

UNLV coach Jerry Tarkanian has a tired face. He looks like he has only one breath left and is going to see God at any time. There are obvious bald spots on his bald head that cannot see the hair.

Even looking at it from a distance, one can still see a bit of mourning.

Louis thought this guy was seriously ill, so the UNLV players beat Duke on the court so frantically.

Facts will prove that Coach Lu thinks too much.

Tarkanian is healthy, he just looks a little unhealthy.

At the end, 103 to 73, Duke was ruthlessly slaughtered by UNLV by 30 points.

This disastrous defeat set the largest point difference in the NCAA National Finals, with the largest winning team scoring 1.

Little K, who was confident that he could lead his team to win the championship, entered the shame column of college basketball in a way that he could not have imagined.

"If I had known earlier, we should have tried our best to persuade Larry Johnson to participate in the 1989 draft." Zhao Yuanzheng said with emotion.

Louis knows what he's talking about.

Larry Johnson has always been a college player that Zhao Yuanzheng keeps track of, but due to academic issues, he played in the D2 league for the first two years of his college career.

Even so, he looked extremely dazzling.

After Ball, Oakley, Pippen, and Rodman successively made a name for themselves in the NBA, professional basketball became much less discriminatory against talented players from D2.

If Larry Johnson had participated in the draft in 1989, his stock price would have been between the bottom of the lottery and the edge of the lottery.

However, after he finished playing in UNLV this year, things were completely different.

As the core of this UNLV team, both the regular season and the national championship serve as anchors. If he runs for the draft this year, Derek Coleman’s top pick may not be stable. If he runs for the draft next year, without a sudden emergence of monster newcomers,

Under such circumstances, the top pick would not think of anyone else except him.

This is why Zhao Yuanzheng feels regretful.

They could have used a lottery to select a potential No. 1 pick.

"I'm going to say hello to Coach K. Please wait for me."

Louis came down and said a few words to Little K, expressing regret for Duke's failure and encouraging the players who were heartbroken: "You know, sometimes a painful defeat can make you a better person.

Team, please come again next year.”

"Thank you, Lu." Little K was too sad now to say anything else.

Louis patted him lightly on the shoulder and then walked over to congratulate unlv.

When he was about to leave, reporters at the scene quickly came over to interview him.

They posed a question: "If the Knicks had the No. 1 pick this year, who would you choose?"

"We will trade the No. 1 pick and sell it for money, because we already have a lot of talented players. No matter what kind of players they are, they cannot get stable playing time in our team."

Louis answered this for several reasons. First of all, he didn’t want to rub salt into the wounds of Duke’s people. Because if he gave a serious answer, Larry Johnson was the most suitable, but the latter killed them tonight. Secondly,

He also didn't want unlv to feel uncomfortable.

Therefore, he passed the reporter's test in a slightly arrogant way and then left.

The first season of college basketball in the 1990s has ended, and the NBA regular season will also come to an end.

On April 5, the Knicks faced the Celtics for the last time in the regular season. Stockton sent out 23 assists and led the team to sweep the Celtics.

As a result, Stockton also reached a milestone: since the 1986-87 season, he has sent at least 1,000 assists in four consecutive seasons.

On April 20, the Knicks’ regular season finale was against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

In order to get more ticket money, the Timberwolves moved the stadium to a dome that can accommodate 50,000 fans.

This set a record for the most people attending a game that season.

The Timberwolves were crushed by the Knicks, but 47,000 Minnesotans were still there to witness the whole process.

Louis was already dissatisfied with this team, and as soon as there were more spectators at the scene, he asked the team to take action.

Unfortunately, the Timberwolves were probably too weak, or the Knicks players were already thinking about the playoffs. In the final game of the regular season, their shooting percentage was poor. Although they tried their best, they "only" won by 32 points.

In the end, the Knicks set a record that may be unprecedented.

From mid-January to April 20, 1990, they only lost one game during this period.

In the end, they achieved a great record of 73 wins and 9 losses. Although it was not better than last season, they still led the Lakers by 7 games. They entered the playoffs as the unquestionable number one in the league and had home court advantage in all rounds.

It was of great significance to Wilson himself.

This season, he has accelerated his evolution, playing in 80 games, averaging 26 points, 8 rebounds, 6.6 assists, 2.9 steals and 1.5 blocks per game. If he were not in the Knicks, his scoring average would have increased, but it is precisely because he is in the Knicks that he can contribute the best

Defensive performance.

In the eyes of many people, he has already locked up two first-team teams and MVP.

1 Don’t think that’s low, college basketball didn’t have the shot clock until 1985.