95: 064: The Bloodiest Slaughter, Roger Repeatedly Seals the Throat!_2 95: 064: The Bloodiest Slaughter, Roger Repeatedly Seals the Throat!_2 Ewing launched into a furious offensive in the final five minutes, managing to break through even when he was often draped with three defenders.
Today, Ewing’s free throw touch was quite good, and any foul would be punished by his “small knife of free throws.”
Moreover, the Knicks’ ability to fight for offensive rebounds was stronger.
Even if the first shot didn’t go in, Ewing, Oakley, and Charles Smith could grab the ball back and continue the offense.
The Knicks didn’t abandon this strategy that was beginning to work.
During this period, they truly attacked the basket with every possession.
Anthony Mason once had a wide-open opportunity and chose to shoot, which seemed reasonable, but he was met with a torrential bellow from Riley, “How many fucking times have I said to hit it inside?
If you do that again, get the fuck off the court!”
Riley’s roars swapped for the Knicks’ incredibly high tactical execution efficiency.
Looking at the Bulls, Roger became a lone star.
In the surrounding darkness, he was the only light.
However, Riley constantly used timeouts to disrupt Roger’s rhythm, dimming his light that had been so bright in the first three quarters.
Ewing and Oakley dominated the boards, doing whatever they wanted in the paint.
Cartwright fouled out with six, and Wennington was already on his fifth foul.
The Bulls’ interior defense plunged into a severe crisis.
Roger’s basket with 42 seconds left in the game tied up the score and also earned him his 32nd point of the game.
But then, Riley called his final timeout, once again disrupting Roger’s rhythm.
Following the timeout, the Knicks, holding the ball, began their offense.
Riley, with disheveled hair, was gesticulating wildly on the sidelines, “Take the ball down low, to the post!”
Roger might be the first to make Riley abandon his polished exterior.
But Riley didn’t care about that now, his messy hairstyle might look a bit embarrassing, but it was better than being knocked out of the playoffs.
He believed that now Roger’s touch had been disrupted by him, so if the Knicks could score in the last 42 seconds, they would win the game.
This time, Ewing got the pass and went for his signature rabbit hop shot, but the ball bounced off the back of the rim.
Charles Smith overpowered Kukoc, snatching the rebound off the head of the Euro-Magic, and went straight up for the put-back attempt.
But the ball still didn’t go in; the area under the basket had turned into a meat grinder, and the confrontation would be enough to warrant a flagrant foul even in the 21st century.
The Bulls narrowly escaped a second time.
But after stopping Charles Smith and Ewing, amazingly, Oakley yet again captured another offensive rebound.
Oak Tree grabbed the board among a crowd and jumped, tossing the ball with one hand toward the basket.
This ball came very close, circling the rim, but ultimately it fell off!
At this moment, the breath of every New York fan nearly stopped; they felt as though they had returned to one year ago.
Last year’s 1993 Eastern Conference Finals Game 5, was undoubtedly a nightmare for the Knicks.
In the final moments of that game, Charles Smith continuously grabbed offensive rebounds under the basket, getting chance after chance to change the score four times, but ultimately he failed to finish, losing the game.
Today’s scene seemed to be a replay of the one from a year ago, with continuous offensive rebounds and missed opportunities.
This time, Wennington and Kukoc fought hard for positioning, competing for the rebound.
But Oakley squeezed past Pippen, running down to the basket.
He couldn’t grab the rebound behind the tall wall formed by Wennington and Kukoc, but with his sharp instincts, he leaped and slapped the ball toward the outskirts!
Wennington and Kukoc’s positioning became futile as Ewing immediately turned to chase the ball that was slapped away.
But by the time Ewing got the ball, he was already at a zero-degree angle, midrange, and there wasn’t much time left on the shot clock, so he couldn’t drive it in.
So, Ewing went for a turnaround jumper.
The shot was incredibly awkward, the posture downright ugly, Ewing almost threw the ball with one hand, but as the backboard light flashed red, the ball miraculously nestled into the net!
So did the commentators at the scene, “Patrick Ewing has made perhaps the most crucial shot of his career!
New Yorkers can breathe easy, their team didn’t repeat the mistakes of the past, the nightmare of a year ago hasn’t reenacted!
With the last 18 seconds, the Knicks lead by 2 points!
One hand is already on the finals ticket!”
On the court, all the Knicks players hugged Ewing.
Disheveled, hard-fought, sweat-soaked, but at least they’d retained their dignity in the end.
Tonight, not even the New York fans would scorn that ugly behemoth.
Toni Kukoc almost cried on the spot, covering his face, walking to Roger, lamenting, “Damn, if only I could have grabbed just one rebound, damn!
We had already come this far, we were about to take away the trophy, damn!”
“Shut up, Toni,” Roger coldly responded, squeezing his shoulder, “we haven’t lost yet.”
At that moment, an uncontrollably excited Pat Riley started yelling at Roger on the court:
“Hey, kid, why don’t you shove that failure down my throat?
You’re not MJ, you’re not!
I told you, I’d make you feel what real cruelty is in the playoffs.
Kid, I’m truly sorry.”