Which team is the craziest dark horse in NBA history?

Knicks-the craziest dark horse in history! They almost hacked to the end!

In the long history of NBA, there are always some teams that surprise us in a single season, so we have to mention the new york Knicks. Although the Knicks have now become a fishing team, the brilliance they created 21 years ago still makes every Knicks fan feel excited. In the 1998-99 season, how did the Knicks, facing the aging problem of the team's age structure, break into the NBA finals? How did they create the craziest "Black Eight Miracle" in history? Now let's have a steak together.

In the past ten years, even though the Knicks have a poor record, they still have the largest market in NBA teams and a large number of fans. In fact, the Knicks were the NBA's giants last season. They even created the incredible "Black Eight" myth in 1999 and became the biggest dark horse in that shrinking season.

During the regular season that season, the Knicks' record of 27 wins and 23 losses only ranked eighth in the East, and they stumbled into the playoffs. John starks had already gone to Golden State Warriors, while Charles oakley went to Toronto Raptors. Therefore, in the Knicks of that year, Ewing was still the leader of the team. You know, Ewing was 37 years old at that time. At that time, Ewing was assisted by Sprewell, who was brilliant on the field but had numerous problems off the field, Alan Houston, the "China Investment King", and Larry Johnson, a two-time all-star player.

More importantly, Ewing, as the president of the players' union, has worried too much about labor negotiations, and his performance is not satisfactory. Even though he can get the data of 17+1, it is much worse than before.

When it comes to talent, then the Knicks really can't be named, but when it comes to tough style, they are indeed one of the hardest teams in the league. Even if their attack is not so beautiful in the game, every player will go all out and win the game for the team with tenacious defense. Toughness became the label of the Knicks at that time.

In p>1999, when the Knicks stumbled into the playoffs, they met the Heat, a team led by "Penny" Hardaway and "man of iron" Mourning. You know, in the previous season, a famous large-scale fight broke out between the Knicks and the Heat in NBA history. At that time, Knicks coach Van Gundy was dragged a few meters away with Mourning's thigh and became a classic scene in the NBA. In this season, the Heat made a comeback, ranking first in the East.

therefore, the meeting between the two teams in the first round can be called a fight. The physical confrontation between the two sides was extremely fierce, which was even called one of the worst defensive wars in history by future generations. At that time, they would rather choose the defense like an iron wall than attack.

In G1, the Knicks won the Heat by 2 points; In the second round, the Heat won 1 points; G3, the Knicks made a comeback and won 24 points. In the fourth game, the Heat made a desperate counterattack and won 15 points. The big score was tied at 2-2. At that time, it was still a best-of-five game. Therefore, under such circumstances, the two teams needed to fight for five.

in G5, it was a Knicks-style "physical battle". The two sides came to the fourth quarter in hand-to-hand combat, with 4.5 seconds left in the game, the Heat led 77-76 and the Knicks had the ball. Alan Houston of the Knicks took the ball to the basket, but there was not enough time for him to use the textbook-like CIC. He chose the throwing that was not very common at that time. The ball seems to be joking with people. First, it hits the rim of the basket, then it comes into close contact with the backboard, and finally, it falls into the bag reluctantly. 78-77, the Knicks eliminated the Heat by one point, creating a miracle of Black Eight. Running all the way, the king of China Investment Corporation, and Mourning, man of iron, wept bitterly.

After defeating the Heat, the Knicks' next target is the Atlanta Hawks. They didn't play as fiercely as the Heat did. In this series, Sprewell led the Knicks to sweep the Hawks, averaging 22 points, which made them the biggest contributor to the East Finals.

Next, the Knicks will face the Indiana Pacers, and Reggie Miller was the star of the Pacers at that time. Unfortunately, the news came that although the Knicks won G1 by hand-to-hand, in G2, their star player Ewing was injured in the Achilles tendon, and he could not miss the rest of this series.

The pressure came to the Knicks, who were in urgent need of a hero. In the third game, the Pacers came to Madison Square Garden to challenge the Knicks, and the Knicks were 3 points behind 11.9 seconds before the end.

This time, the miracle still appeared, and it was Larry Johnson who saved the team. He caught the ball at a 45-degree angle outside the three-point line. Facing the defender, he shook his opponent with a fake action and immediately shot. The whistle sounded at the moment of the recent situation, and he scored 3+1! This magical "four points" has become a classic lens in NBA history.

With Johnson's penalty hit, the Knicks finally narrowly won 92-91, and the victory of this game became a watershed for both sides in this series. In the decisive sixth game, Miller suffered the worst moment of his career. In that game, Miller made only 3 of 18 shots and 1 of 8 three-pointers. As a result, the Knicks succeeded again, creating an unprecedented "black eight" miracle at that time, becoming the first team in NBA history to rank eighth but reach the finals.

On the stage of the finals, the Knicks will face the Spurs, who have a combination of two towers. Even in the face of such a powerful opponent, Knicks fans believed that the team could create miracles again after fighting in the East. They played such a slogan at home: "WE STILL BELIEVE", which touched all new york people. Although the strength was not as good as that of their opponents, the Knicks snatched the only victory from Duncan and Robinson in the G2 finals. The scene of Sprewell, a madman, fighting the Twin Towers has also become an eternal classic in NBA history.

Even though Ewing was absent on the stage of the finals, the tenacity and hard work of new york people moved countless fans. Today, when we look back at that bloody division again, the Knicks today are like a pool of mud, and they can't help the wall!