When the league arranges the schedule, it will try to separate the two most concerned teams to avoid overlapping the game time affecting the ratings. From this divisional semi-final, it can be seen that this year's Knicks have taken the lead. They played against the Grizzlies and Thunder on the same day, and the remaining Lakers, Heat, Mavericks and Celtics were assigned to the same day. This is enough to show that in the league's mind, the Knicks' game is more important than these teams, so he specially chose a group of teams that are the least popular.

Ab TV conducted statistics before the start of the series. The Knicks vs Pacers series is the second highest ratings in the first round in North America, with an average of 6.5 million viewers per game, almost the same as the Lakers' 6.8 million. But if the number of viewers outside Shanghai is counted, the Knicks' ratings alone can reach more than 20 million in China, and this country alone will be higher than the Lakers' ratings in the world. If the scope is expanded to the entire Asian region, the Knicks' game will have at least 40 million viewers.

These ratings are not just empty numbers, which means advertising revenue calculated using "billions" and a large amount of live broadcast revenue and huge event publicity effects. Therefore, the NBA League and the biggest financial TV stations behind them cannot ignore the Knicks.

Wu Huang's status in Asia is now becoming more and more like Michael Jackson's position in the minds of black people. In the eyes of businessmen, this is a mountain of gold. Anyone who dares to touch it must pay a price! Why are most commentators licking Wu Huang? Because there are too many yellow-skinned fans behind him. Once he says bad things, it is likely to damage the interests of the funders, and the ending will naturally be to lose their jobs. Not to mention some suspected racial discrimination, if anyone dares to say something, the TV station will definitely fire it immediately to serve as a warning to others so that Asian fans can vent their anger.

In fact, this is very unfair to other teams. The greater the commercial value of Wu Huang, the more the league naturally needs to protect him, and the star whistle will become more and more serious. Other teams will be jealous when defending him. For example, many teams want to use malicious defense to deal with him, but under the protection of the league, they will definitely be killed by the referee's whistle!

Moreover, Wu Huang's free throws are so accurate that once he frequently goes to the free throw line, it is basically impossible to play. However, you don't need to treat him with a worse foul, and it is difficult to limit his performance. This is a dilemma. All teams will have a headache when fighting against the Knicks, including today's Bulls.

Thibodeau is also struggling whether to use some tricks in the game? But after a long conflict, he still didn't dare to make up his mind, worried that it would allow Emperor Wu to get too many free throws. Speaking of which, this guy has a lot more free throws this year. In addition to the star whistle given by the referee, he has also learned the skills of cheating fouls. Such a cunning guy who can borrow chickens to lay eggs can easily steal chickens and lose rice when he takes ruthless moves.

Compared with the Knicks, the Bulls have few targeted tactics, the Knicks have few weaknesses in the lineup, and there are not those difficult to solve. There are many people available on the bench. Thibodeau knows that the Bulls must rely on their two top stars to win, and then they have to see how lucky they are? If the first two games feel good, they will be able to compete with each other first and return to Chicago.

Time comes in the evening, and the pre-match warm-up is the pre-match warm-up after the pre-match press conference. The pre-match warm-up of the NBA usually lasts more than an hour, but not all coaches are interested in this kind of warm-up. *Vic believes that pre-match shooting training is a waste of time.

Emperor Wu didn't think so. He felt that this was the time to interact with the fans, and it was also a time to relax before the game, and it was also the time he took the opportunity to hype himself.

Today, just like the home court in the past, Madison Garden fell into madness more than an hour before the game. When Wu Huang appeared and warmed up, thousands of fans who came to the scene early began to go crazy.

After Wu Huang first said hello to the Bulls player, he picked up the basketball and started a show-off performance with a super long distance shooting, closed his eyes, negative angle shooting, two-handed shooting, and player channel shooting. In short, he used all kinds of fun work one by one, and they were all flashy.

This juggling performance not only feasted the fans on the scene, but also caused the mentality of the Bulls players on the opposite side to fluctuate. Some Bulls players think he is like a performer, some think he is too pretentious, some jealous of the support he gets from the fans, and some are hit by his superb shooting skills... But no matter what kind of mentality these opponents have, these influences will interfere with the later games to varying degrees, which is also a major purpose for Wu Huang to show off.

In addition to affecting the opponent's mentality, Wu Huang's pre-match performance is more about improving his popularity and topicality. Now many countries like to broadcast the Knicks' game one hour in advance, so that they can see Wu Huang's performance on the court. Even domestic sports channels occasionally broadcast the Knicks' pre-match warm-up. Today, TV5 connected the signal one hour before the start of the game, and live broadcast the Knicks' pre-match warm-up to Chinese fans.

From the TV screen, we can see that Wu Huang's shooting performance made the fans crazy. His every move attracted high attention from the fans. Just a warm-up shot, Wu Huang's ears sounded like a shouting during the game. The sound of "hugo!hugo!" on the scene has never stopped.

When Wu Huang missed his shot, he would smile and wave to the fans on the sidelines. When he saw the beautiful girl, he would come forward to sign an accusation. This made the fans even more crazy. Various cheers burst out again, and the shouts of "mvp!mvp!" also began to resound throughout the stadium. The game had not yet begun, but the climax was already one after another.

Half an hour before the game started, the stadium was filled with 80% of the fans. At this time, the staff came up to notify the players of the two teams to temporarily leave the court. They had to do the final inspection before the game. Of course, the two teams also had to go back to the locker room to prepare for the entrance ceremony. Most teams' broadcasts started from this time.

The players of the two teams took a shower first after returning to the locker room, and then changed into the jerseys for the game. Before, they wore training uniforms of their respective teams, and the jerseys were always hung in the locker room, so they would wear them. Then the head coach would give the players a few simple points. After the talk, the players gathered together and shouted a few times. Finally, the boss of the team took the lead in shouting the theme of tonight's game. Wu Huang shouted in his not-so-passing voice: "Tonight's slogan is to let them go without a reply!"

Emperor Wu shouted a little perfunctorily. He felt that the tradition of shouting slogans was very low, but other Knicks players didn't think so, and they were much more passionate than him. For a moment, the entire locker room was filled with shouts of "let them go back and forth", and even reporters outside who were asked to be more than five meters away from the door heard the sound.

"Hehe, why do you have to yell every time?" Emperor Wu himself is very resistant to this tradition. It is said that domestic students like to yell like this during military training. He feels like a fool. Can anyone have a loud voice be better?

The Knicks players soon entered the court again, but this time the atmosphere in the entire stadium was different. The crazy fans wearing Knicks jerseys just now disappeared. There were a group of colorful clothes on the front seats, and there were even many fans wearing sunglasses.

These people are characterized by fashion dress, like to sit and watch the football, and then smile at their camera from time to time, as if they were watching a concert. As for the fanatical fans before, they were sitting behind at the moment, looking down from their direction, like a matchbox. These people only had the opportunity to run up close and see the Knicks players when they came earlier. The front row tickets in New York are too expensive, and a front row ticket for the playoffs is enough for them to watch the regular season in the back row for a season.

Emperor Wu was too lazy to pay attention to these people, and he no longer had the interest in performing again. He calmed down and waited for the competition to begin.

Today's Bulls lineup: Ross, Korver, Anthony, Boozer, Noah.

Knicks lineup: Wu Huang, Iguodala, Garlinari, Stoudemire, O'Neal.

"I heard you are going to fight against us?" Emperor Wu asked when he greeted Ross, and then provoked: "What a courage!"

Ross was stunned. They only made up their minds yesterday. How could this guy know about this strategy? Is there an insider in the team?

When Emperor Wu saw Rose showing a surprised expression, he felt a little strange and thought to himself: "Look at his expression, would he really want to fight against us later? No, I was just talking nonsense just now, can't I be so accurate, right?" Emperor Wu's previous words were purely pretending to be 13. Anyway, he was right or wrong, but what if he was fooled by him, he would have to scare his opponent, just like now.

The Bulls players looked at each other, and they all heard the words of Emperor Wu, and they all felt a bad feeling in their hearts. They were most afraid of being seen through by others. Once they were guessed, they would not have any effect. It seemed that they were not good at getting off the battlefield!

"Be careful, I have cheated these idiots. They may play against us and catch us off guard." After Wu Huang returned to his half, he quickly exchanged information with his teammates. It seems that sometimes cheating the opponent is also beneficial, but you can't do this in every game, otherwise it won't work.

After the opening, the Bulls were indeed full of momentum and attacked very resolutely. At first glance, they had practiced it, so they took the stance of attacking the game.

Although the Knicks players were wary, the Bulls were more inconsistent with their superiority and inferiority. They performed aerial relay on the first attack. Noah got a dunk in the air after receiving Ross' pass in the frontcourt. This time, the cooperation was obviously a premeditated tactic. Even if the Knicks were wary, they did not defend themselves. It seemed that the Bulls were planning to take the lead, and maybe they wanted to take the lead.

Emperor Wu returned an aerial relay on the offensive end, but not cooperating with Xiao Si, but let Iguodala implement a counter-running tactic and cut from the bottom line to make a dunk.

Xiao Si is in good condition now, but Emperor Wu knew that his knee injury was only 80% healed. It would be impossible to heal without surgery. However, it is enough for athletes to recover. Bringing protective gear and wrapping the bandage tightly has basically no effect. It is just that he should try not to do such difficult movements. If he accidentally twists his knees when it lands, it will not be worth it.

After the two teams performed an air relay at the beginning, the next rhythm was a little unstoppable. It had already reached 9:8 in less than three minutes. The scene was very good, but Thibodeau knew it was not a good thing. At a glance, you can tell that the Knicks had prepared for a long time and they could no longer fight head-on with each other.

The Knicks have always had one problem. They got into the state quickly after the start of the game, but this refers to the offensive aspect, and their defense has been slow to heat up, which is also a common problem for young players.

Thibodeau wanted to take advantage of this and make a fuss. If he could start, he would hit the Knicks with a blow, and this game would be much easier.

But now it is obvious that the Knicks players are very focused on defense. These guys are still good at defending fast attacks. It is not wise for them to continue playing against the Knicks. In other people's rhythm, if there is a slight mistake, they may be hit in a wave.

Thibodeau thought of standing up here and was about to instruct the team to slow down. Gallinari broke Korver's pass with his footsteps and wingspan, and then dribbled the ball over halftime and passed it to Wu Huang for a quick shot. The latter changed direction and dodged Ross and easily advanced the ball.

"This ball is passing beautifully!" Wu Huang and Garina clenched with force. From this ball, we can see the talent gap between Garinali and Korver. These two were both top pitchers last year, but this year Garinali has developed a good ball-holding ability. With this ability, it is equivalent to having a road to the All-Star. Although it is one thing to go in the end, it is another matter whether there is a road.

"Boss, I feel that I am in a very good shape today. Let me play?" Garlinari made a request after slamming the high point, hoping that he could take the ball and attack a few times.

"Okay, we play wing tactics, and I will help you open the defense." Of course, Wu Huang would not refuse. Gallinari's good fight was a good thing for the Knicks, and he was not afraid that the other party would steal his limelight. Although this Italian has high talent, he is still a little short of geniuses like Kobe and McGrady. The key is that this guy's efforts cannot even catch up with him, and there is no possibility of usurping power. At best, he is a white Odom.

The Bulls did not expect Gallinari to become the Knicks' offensive core after the opening. After slowing down, they found that the Knicks would start to provide positioning and cover as soon as they fell. At first, they thought they were blocking Wu Huang. As a result, Gallinari got a misplaced one-on-one chance on the wing twice. After scoring four points, Thibodeau finally realized something was wrong.

Thibodeau began to think that he would replace Korver. Garlinari seemed to be opening it. This is not a good phenomenon. Once several of the Knicks' secondary offensive points were opened, it was terrible and it was necessary to take precautions as soon as possible.

However, before this idea was over, Gallinari got another chance to play singles on the wing. This time Thibodeau finally saw that the Knicks were taking the initiative to play Gallinari, otherwise the Italian would not have been able to get basketball in a row.

Garinari fought against Korver this time. His breakthrough was not as fake as Emperor Wu. He accelerated directly after two tentative steps, and passed Korver purely by speed. The latter's turn and lateral movement were much slower in front of the Italians' breakthrough.

Noah's pace was fast enough to assist in defense in time. But Gallinari was in good shape today. He forced a layup against Noah not only scored the ball, but also caused Noah to make a defensive foul.

Madison Garden had already had a thunderous joy. Garlinari scored 6 points in a row and got a free throw opportunity. Less than halfway through the first quarter, the Knicks led by 6 points with 17:11, and was about to lead by 7 points.

Gallinari also jumped on the spot with excitement, and then the extra penalty also made it easy, and the Knicks' morale was greatly boosted.

Thibodeau quickly called a timeout, and Koval was replaced immediately. His defense was useless in Thibodeau's eyes. This is not a player who fits his system. It is a helpless move to use him. The Bulls are unable to open up the breakthrough space without an excellent three-point shooting point. At this moment, Roll Deng, a quasi-All-star who can defend and shoot, seems more precious. In Thibodeau's eyes, Roll Deng is easier to use than Iguodala.

The Bulls' timeout was very timed, but one timeout could not change the disadvantage on the field. The Knicks' defense against Noah today did not see any effect, because they had already beaten the Bulls' axis into two fouls on the offensive end.

Iguodala also played with the ball after the timeout. Noah's defense this time explained what it means to be "too active is not a good thing." He once again assisted in time for his teammates. However, Iguodala's idea was very clear. He was here to create damage. As soon as he saw Noah who had already committed a foul on his back, the first brother's eyes lit up suddenly. Without thinking, he threw his body that was more than 200 degrees pounds over...

"Let him go!" Thibodeau couldn't help but shout off the court, but Noah had already rushed up.

"Dou!" Noah shot Iguodala's dunk directly, and he fell to the ground in a mess, but the referee's whistle also sounded.

As soon as Noah saw the referee's gesture, his mind turned blank in an instant. He knew that he had made a big mistake this time and was over!

Madison Garden was boiling again. Even if they didn't know that the Knicks' defensive focus was Noah, they also knew that the Bulls' defensive savvy was a difficult guy to deal with. He would make the Knicks' breakthrough difficult. If he hit him, the Bulls' inside defense would be half less.

Thibodeau is not worried that the team's defense will collapse after Noah's departure. He still has Asik to replace him, but Noah's role on the offensive end is irreplaceable to Asik, which is the real fatal problem.

Anthony immediately scored a strong attack after Noah left the court, but although this goal was scored, the opportunity created was not good. This kind of scoring was entirely based on personal ability and luck.

This also shows that after Noah left the court, Anthony and Ross did not have much contact. If Noah was on the court, Anthony might have passed the ball just now, and then Noah re-initiated an attack at a high position, or asked him to pass the ball to Ross and reorganized it. Thibodeau has always opposed such inefficient reckless actions.

A minute later, Ross also came up and did a lot of work, but this time he did not succeed because he did not have the historical ******, and could not push Wu Huang when shooting.

The Knicks immediately counterattacked when they got the rebound. Wu Huang rushed to the frontcourt with the ball and scored a three-pointer. Then he scored 7 points alone, helping the Knicks to make a 11:2 attack*, expanding the lead gap to double digits in one fell swoop.

Thibodeau called another timeout, and this time the Bulls made another strange move, perhaps not the strange move. They asked Boozer to play Sir Si in the low post for a long time, and the effect was very good.

Maybe it was because his presence was too low after coming to the Bulls. Boozer's personal offensive ability has been ignored by many people. In fact, this anti-bone attack is still good. It is difficult for Xiao S to defend him alone, and Monroe, who came on the bench, was even less of an opponent. D'Antoni found that he had no choice but to do anything to Boozer for a while.
Chapter completed!