The rest is just noise

November 1, 1991

The 1991-92 NBA regular season opener was held at Madison Square Garden.

The two teams facing each other are the two most watched teams in the Eastern Conference.

On one side are the New York Knicks, last season's defending champions who completed four consecutive championships, and on the other side are the Boston Celtics, the former king before the Knicks reached the top.

The Celtics are looking forward to the new season.

This summer, they traded away Isiah Thomas and acquired two talented rookies.

They are No. 2 pick Billy Owens and No. 11 pick Doug Smith.

Many people expect Owens to become the Bird of the new era. He will be stronger than Bird, because Bird cannot play like a tragedy, but he can use Bird's skills to play like a tragedy.

Only Louis saw the results early.

In 1986, because of Louis, the Celtics missed Len Bias, and the dynasty continued for a few years. But five years later, still because of Louis, they exchanged the No. 2 pick at an unimaginable cost.

, and look forward to Owens opening up a new era.

If the death of Bias has brought more room for imagination for his future, then by the time Owens "realizes" his potential, Celtics executives may wish he was dead.

What is more cruel than the unattainable "if" is reality. Reality will tell you that if it is all bullshit.

In tonight's opening game, Bird took the no-fight card...

Affected by the butterfly effect, Bird did not suffer injuries in this life that required him to retire to relieve himself.

He is still injured, but how many 35-year-old athletes are not injured? The Celtics do not let him play, partly to let him recuperate. After all, the intensity of the Knicks' game is too high, which is not conducive to Burr's health.

De's body was also used to test Owens' strength.

Not only Bird, but Bill Laimbeer is not here either.

The Celtics put together a lineup that didn't look very competitive.

Theirs today is Cheeks, John Long, Billy Owens, Doug Smith, Sampson.

Cheeks and Long at the end of their careers, two fledgling rookies, and the first player in the league last season.

"Poor Ralph." Louis smiled bitterly.

Louis induced the Celtics to trade Owens, and its negative impact was far beyond imagination.

You know, they could have at least added an All-Star prospect, Steve Smith, and Reggie Lewis, who has All-Star potential.

These two were supposed to take over when Bird aged out.

Now, they are paying their all for the future for Owens, who has a higher ceiling.

If Owens is in trouble, in a few years, Bird will be older, Laimbeer may retire, and Sampson will be older, how competitive will he be?

On the other hand, the Knicks are full of youthful vitality.

29-year-old Ewing, 29-year-old Rodman, 24-year-old Wilson, 26-year-old Miller and 29-year-old Stockton.

No one is over 30 years old. Although there are veterans such as Ainge, McHale, and Sikma on the bench, they no longer play a pivotal role in the Knicks.

"Many people believe that the Knicks, who have won four consecutive championships, will be destroyed like the Celtics. These people have ignored one problem. The Knicks overall still look young."

"After four years of this team dominating the league, they're still young."

Youth can be equated with the future. Before the Knicks reached the top, they were originally positioned as a team in the 1990s. However, they rose too quickly and overthrew the Celtics at their peak in 1988.

They have been dominant for too long, causing many people to misunderstand their age structure.

Also, Ewing's mature appearance also affects people's view of him.

So Ewing is to blame for this.

Sampson easily won the ball for the Celtics, and the Green Army's first attack clearly looked for Owens.

At a 45-degree angle on the left wing, Owens faces Wilson.

"Billy Owens is a great talent, and many professionals in the league feel he will be as great as Larry Bird!" NBC commentator Bob Costas shouted.

However, Owens' dribbling was unable to get rid of Wilson, so he chose to make jump shots after continuous shaking.

Louis didn't think Bird and Tragedy would score this way.

"boom!"

Missed, Sampson knocked out the rebound.

The ball came to Doug Smith, another rookie who was favored by the Celtics.

In the NBA, he seemed to have lost the composure he had in college. When he got the ball, he would shoot without looking at anyone and was blocked by Rodman.

Stockton picked up the ball, and the Knicks' counterattack rolled up like a whirlwind.

Stockton passed the ball to Miller in the frontcourt, and the latter followed up with a three-pointer.

3 to 0

"Isn't 3-on-0 chasing three-pointers too much?" Louis shouted, "What do you think of the game, a shooting game?"

Gu Xue

Louis complains and complains, and will not interfere with the players' decisions unless their decisions will affect the outcome of the game.

A defeat in one round will not make anyone doubt Owens's prospects.

The Celtics kept giving him the ball.

He is as strong as Sampson, the best player in the league, and he has to give up his position to let him play.

In fact, Louis believes that the Celtics already know Owens' ability. After all, there will be countless games in the preseason training camp.

Isn't it clear enough in the team competition whether he has that ability?

Unless the intensity of the Celtics' intra-team competition has been so high that it cannot test Owens' level.

This is Louis' misunderstanding. He thought that the intensity of the competition between all teams was the same as that of the Knicks. In fact, this is not the case.

The intensity of most intra-team competitions is like the future NBA Rookie Challenge. Players have their own ideas and will be more intense, but the level is not very high.

So every time a new assistant coach comes to the Knicks and sees the intensity of their games, they feel scared.

Doug Mo was shocked when he first arrived.

Watching Owens play is like watching someone play Career Mode on 2K for the first time.

When you get the ball, you just want to show off your skills. You don't think about operability or rationality. You just want to show off.

In front of Wilson, Owens' explosive power is not enough to complete a strong breakthrough. He can only rely on his good ball-holding ability and rhythm to disrupt the defense.

The outside world has praised Owens to the sky, which directly affects the way famous superstars like Wilson view him.

Wilson just wanted to know if Owens was real, so he didn't intend to make the opponent comfortable from offense to defense.

Owens once again reluctantly took the shot.

"boom!"

This time, Ewing was stuck.

But Sampson's core strength exceeded his imagination. Even if the position was unfavorable, he could still use his core strength to prevent Ewing from jumping up, and then use his unmatched height to collect the rebound.

Sampson, who got the rebound, pushed Ewing away with his butt raised, turned over and made a violent dunk, giving the Celtics their first point of the night.

At the end of the 1985 Finals, Louis asked himself.

Can Ewing reach 80% of Sampson's level in the future?

If we look at Sampson's level in the 1985 Finals, today's Ewing may not only have reached 80%, but also 90%.

But Sampson is a player who gets better every year.

Sampson last season was the strongest player Louis has ever seen. Maybe there is someone in history who is better than him on the offensive end. It is very likely that there are also very few players who were defensively better than Sampson last season in a certain year.

Better, but absolutely no one can contribute that level of offense and defense in a season.

If this Sampson is used to benchmark Ewing, what percentage of Sampson's performance will he achieve?

Maybe 60%?

Little did Louis know that Sampson, at the center position, was invincible.

When critics discuss centers, they will discuss Ewing, Olajuwon, and David Robinson together, but they will not include Sampson. He belongs to another level.

In these two rounds today, he made Ewing look ugly by grabbing rebounds.

That dunk was the epitome of his role as a center.

No one is his opponent, no one is not dominated by him, no one can maintain dignity when facing him.

Even a super center like Ewing is the same.

In the Knicks' offensive round, Sampson's rim protection blocked Stockton's layup.

Owens got the ball and Gao Neng came.

Scouts said he could play like a tragedy man, and he believed it.

He really doesn't care about Cheeks's position, he dribbles the ball in one go and attacks the basket in halftime.

If Owens is truly a tragedy, no matter how many Knicks come back, they won't be able to stop the Celtics from counterattacking.

But Owens is no tragic figure.

Owens' counterattack was blocked by Ewing when he took action.

Ewing's block was to use all his strength to block his ball. Owens could not withstand the force. His center of gravity dissipated in the air and he fell to the ground in a panic.

His ball was caught by Miller.

Ewing went on the fast break and in the frontcourt, the Knicks were five on four.

No matter how good Sampson's defense is, he will still be beaten by the Knicks' passing.

Tune it from the inside to the outside, and then spread it from the outside to the inside.

Sampson left the penalty area, and Doug Smith tried to protect the basket, but was viciously knocked to the ground by Ewing, looking up at the gorilla for a dunk.