Coach: Coaching the Grizzlies at the beginning, playing the bantam

In the second quarter, the Knicks sent VanVleet, Crabbe, Caruso, Jeff Green, and Harrell.

The Nets sent Dinwiddie, Hardaway, Joe Harris, Tucker, and Wood.

The Knicks' bench lineup is recognized as strong. All five players have experience in the finals, and their skills and physical fitness are not bad.

Van Jordan even has the ability to be a starter, but he was wasted under Hornacek this year. His personal data dropped to 9 points, 2 rebounds and 4 assists, which is far less powerful than the championship season.

Just looking at the lineup on paper, the Knicks can compete with the Nets, which has a strong lineup, and even have an advantage.

Unfortunately, the turmoil in the Knicks' locker room this year not only affected the stars, but also the role players were panicked and their defensive enthusiasm was very poor. Only Caruso was risking his life on the court, while several others focused on improving statistics.

It’s not surprising that they have this idea. The Knicks are really in such bad shape. No one knows whether this battleship will suddenly disintegrate one day. Brushing more data in the regular season can be considered as a way out for the future. .

Dinwiddie and Wood played a pick-and-roll in the middle. Tucker lurked in the left corner waiting to catch the ball and shoot. Harris and Hardaway relied on running positions to find opportunities to shoot three-pointers. They shot decisively and threw them immediately when they had the opportunity. With good shooting efficiency, the point difference continued to widen.

VanVleet can't guard Dinwiddie well. He doesn't suffer from speed or strength. However, he is too short. A direct one-on-one challenge with 'Ding Tianwang' is an opportunity.

Richardson is also sitting on the Knicks bench. He has been half-relegated to the sidelines by Hornacek this season. His playing time is pitiful. I don't know if the gift he gave in the summer is not as big as Crabbe's.

When Lu Yong coached, although Richardson, who was both offensive and defensive, was not the core rotation, his playing order must be ahead of Crabbe.

There is no other reason. Richardson's ability to defend from one to three makes him more worthy of reuse than Crabbe, who is strong in offense and weak in defense. In the finals, he averaged nearly 20 minutes of playing time per game.

However, Hornacek's brain circuit is different from Lu Yong's. For some reason, he especially likes swingman Crabbe. This season has given him a high tactical status, more like the second-tier winger than Van Jordan, who played well last season. six people.

Frankly speaking, Crabbe's personal ability is not bad. After all, he is a rookie personally selected by Lu Yong and a first-round pick.

However, compared with Van Jordan and Richardson, his role is relatively simple and easy to be targeted.

Hornacek's original intention of reusing him was to strengthen the second team's ability to grab points. Unfortunately, his playing style conflicted with Van Jordan's style, which resulted in both of them playing poorly and not meeting expectations at all. .

Recently, Van Jordan is also preparing to apply for a trade to the team and strive to leave the Knicks before the trade deadline, so that he can still be saved.

As a championship defender appointed by Lu Yong, Fan Jordan is still very marketable when he is put on the shelf. As long as he produces good data in the second half of the season, he will not worry about a big contract next year.

Three minutes later, 'Bald Mamba' Caruso was replaced and Anthony returned to the court.

Lu Yong did not make any substitutions, leaving Tucker to defend Anthony. He was not afraid of losing speed, and Harris could double-team on the wing at any time. It was not easy for Anthony to score easily.

Anthony's touch was very bad today. LeVert almost destroyed Melo's mentality by guarding him alone. Now he comes up to lead the second team to play, which can be regarded as a staggered trip to find an offensive state.

Facts have proved that Tucker did not disappoint Lu Yong. He used his enthusiasm and experience to get close to Anthony and interfered with the shooting very well, without even using help defense.

Anthony focused on jump shots as always. He shot continuously under interference, and the expression on his face became more and more distorted.

Tucker defended well, and Lu Yong was not in a hurry to get LeVert back. He waved Russell to replace Hardaway and play as a double guard with Dinwiddie.

The Knicks replaced Jokic, and veteran Jeff Green was replaced early.

Jeff Green didn't play much time under Lu Yong, but he was a surprise player in a small lineup at critical moments, and he also made great contributions to the team's championship in the finals.

Due to a serious decline in form and poor market conditions, Jeff Green has been staying with the Knicks, and he has no intention of leaving even if his tactical status declines.

At his age, after winning a championship, he no longer attaches much importance to personal honors. He will go to whoever gives him more money. New York is undoubtedly an ideal target.

The most impressive one is Artest. He started a lot of games in last year's playoffs and used his not-so-outstanding personal data to cheat the New York management into a generous pension contract.

As a result, after the start of the new season, Hornacek only used Artest for two games before he couldn't stand it and kicked him out of the rotation.

Now Artest doesn't even have to play. He gets paid to sit on the court every day. His career has been extended by two years longer than in his previous life. He is the only Knicks player this year who has no reason to complain even if he wants to.

At halftime, 71 to 50, the Nets led by 21 points, almost sealing the victory in advance.

The Knicks played a terrible performance in the national live broadcast. The stars worked on their own, without coordination, and they were completely scattered.

The only bright spot was Butler. He scored 14 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists in the half, the highest number on the team.

Russell had 12 points, 3 rebounds, 9 assists and 1 steal. He didn't score much, but he sent 9 assists. If he keeps playing like this, he will definitely get another double-double tonight.

During the halftime break, Lu Yong praised the players in the locker room and decided to use his bottom-line tactics to help Russell improve his statistics.

As early as when he was coaching the SuperSonics, Lu Yong helped Durant a lot, coached Philadelphia to help Iverson, and coached New York to help Anthony. He has rich experience in this area.

Russell is in good shape tonight, and Lu Yong plans to be a good guy to the end and help him reach a career high in assists in a single game.

"In the second half, Russell, pay more attention to the position of your teammates. Others will take action immediately after receiving the pass to help him break his personal record."

The relationship between Lu Yong and the Knicks has long been broken, so he will naturally not let anything go in the Christmas game. A big win will help boost the morale of the Nets.

He doesn't feel any guilt for helping Russell improve his statistics. This is how Anthony became the number one player in the league. Now that things have changed, it's time for Melo to have a taste of this.

Players producing explosive statistics can attract fans more. The Nets' paper lineup lacks top stars. If they want to stay popular, they can only seize every opportunity to make headlines.

Russell was very happy when he heard this. He had long wanted to prove himself. He didn't get this kind of treatment when he played for the Lakers, and he had a very strong desire to perform.

In the second half, Lu Yong still arranged for LeVert to defend Anthony alone.

Players are determined not to be double-teamed, so Anthony will let him attack with the ball. The more shots he takes, the more his teammates will disagree with him. After midfield adjustments, Anthony's condition improved in this quarter, and he scored consecutive jump shots under strict single defense. However, the other four members of the Knicks were just decorations. In the positional battle, he was alone with the ball and played alone. Not only did the point difference not narrow, but it was widened again by the Nets.

Kenny Smith commented: "Anthony played too alone tonight. He only had eyes for the basket and couldn't see his teammates around him who had better opportunities. He might be able to get good data by playing like this, but the Knicks definitely He lost miserably and the fans and media won’t say anything good about him.”

Barkley smiled: "The Knicks have reached a point where they are about to disintegrate. Anthony has proven with facts that he has never been a good leader. His ability to become the number one player in the league is all thanks to Lu Yong's support. Without Lu Yong's tactical system, he has Its cancerous attributes have been completely exposed, and its historical status may plummet."

Anthony's current mentality is somewhat morbid. He wants the team to win, but he also doesn't want his teammates to play better than him. This is one of the reasons why the Knicks are struggling, and head coach Hornacek has no way to solve it.

As long as the Knicks have Anthony as the core, young stars such as Butler and Jokic who are unwilling to be mediocre will leave sooner or later. Those who stay will only care about money and face. They will hang around like Artest and will be unable to help the team improve its combat effectiveness.

Russell received 5 assists in this quarter, and the Nets led by 30 points entering the final quarter.

The Knicks didn't want to lose too ugly in the Christmas game, so the main players did not leave the game early, including Anthony, who continued to stay on the court.

Hornacek gave up without raising the white flag, Lu Yong was happy to let Russell play a little longer, and the other four were Hardaway, Joe Harris, Tucker, and Wood.

In order to help Russell get a few more assists, LeVert did not play again. He was replaced by Joe Harris, who shot nearly 50% of his three-pointers. Tucker can guard Anthony alone, and on the offensive end, he can also pull up outside shots. He can take action immediately after receiving the pass from Russell, and the positional offense is very smooth.

It wasn't until more than 4 minutes before the end that the pale Hornacek finally surrendered and replaced Anthony, and the game officially entered garbage time.

Anthony came off the court. His personal statistics tonight were fixed at 28 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 4 turnovers. He made 33 of 12 shots, 11 of 2 three-pointers, and 2 of 2 free throws. He seemed to have scored a lot, but he made 33 attempts. After taking the shot, the hit rate was only 36.3%.

Russell also came off the court immediately and scored another 7 points and sent a few assists. In 38 minutes of playing time, he scored 23 points, 5 rebounds, 17 assists and 2 steals, breaking his personal single-game assist record.

At the end, 134 to 91, the Nets defeated the Knicks by 43 points.

From the beginning of the first quarter, the Nets firmly suppressed their opponents through teamwork. Eight players on the team scored in double figures, making Anthony, the singles king, look dumb.

米切尔18分3篮板3助攻、大洛12分8篮板4盖帽、米尔萨普16分10篮板2助攻3抢断1盖帽，包括丁威迪、勒维尔、哈达威和伍德等人也都打出了非常亮眼的表现。

On the other hand, for the Knicks, apart from Anthony, only Butler, Jokic and Crabbe scored in double figures.

巴特勒16投8中，三分球5中2，罚球4中4，得到22分7篮板3助攻1抢断，出手数不到甜瓜一半，得分却只比他少了6分。

约基奇13投6中，三分球3中1，罚球3中2，得到15分12篮板4助攻1盖帽，好几个回合连球都摸不到。

Starting point guard Brogdon was even worse. He only took 5 shots in the game, hitting 2 goals, 2 of 1 three-pointers, 2 of 2 free throws, and scored 7 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists. He became a victim of the conflicts in the New York locker room.

At the press conference, a reporter asked Lu Yong to talk about the game.

With a smile on his face, Lu Yong said softly: "I'm very happy that the team I coach won another Christmas game. The Nets are stronger than the Knicks this year. I hope New York fans can support them strongly. Come to Brook if you have nothing to do. Lin watches the ball.”

As a minority shareholder of the team, Lu Yong will certainly not miss the opportunity to poach the Knicks. The two cities are only separated by a river. For real fans, this distance is just a matter of time.

The reporter asked again: "How do you evaluate Anthony this season?"

Lu Yong thought for a while and sighed: "I can't comment, and this is not an issue I should consider. In short, I am very disappointed with him."

Anthony's scoring ability is still there, but his explosive power is not as good as before after returning from injury. Coupled with his unwillingness to delegate power, his offensive efficiency is sluggish. It is more difficult to return to his peak form than to reach the sky.

The New York management's cerebral palsy operation is still as sharp as ever. At this time, they didn't rush to put Anthony into the shadows and support Jokic and Butler. They actually wanted to use Anthony's popularity to make money. He deserved the team's poor record and Lu Yong left. It will be difficult to win the championship again.

The next day, North American media reported on the Christmas game one after another. While praising the Nets, more and more people began to criticize Anthony and recognized his cancerous nature.

It's a pity that the New York management's rude approach has chilled the players on the team. Even if they wake up in time, it will be difficult to keep them.

The funniest thing was the group of die-hard fans behind Melo. After watching the game, they began to attack Jokic and the Knicks role players, blaming them for their poor performance and failure to provide help to Anthony.

The reason Butler escaped was thanks to his 22 points last night. Anthony fans couldn't complain, so they naturally transferred their firepower to others.

In the eyes of the media, Anthony has degenerated into a cancer, but in the eyes of 'die fans', Anthony just took a nap and his teammate CBA couldn't help him.

Of course, this kind of excellence is only a small part. When most fans on the Internet talk about the Knicks, they believe that if the team wants to rise from the ashes, it must buy out Melo's contract, otherwise this season will definitely be ruined.

Lu Yong will watch online for fun when he has nothing to do, but he doesn't pay much attention to his old club. He focuses on the young players of the Nets to prepare for the new year's games.

Throughout January, the Nets only lost 4 games.

The record of 37 wins and 10 losses is second only to the Rockets, ranking first in the Eastern Conference and second in the league.

In the game against the Warriors, the Nets broke the historical record by throwing 25 three-pointers in a single game. They defeated their opponents 146 to 132 and scored 278 points together.

Mitchell defeated Klay Thompson one-on-one and scored 42 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. His scoring set a career high and continued to lead the 17th rookie rankings.

In addition, Luo is also ranked first in the best defensive player rankings. He and Jazz center Gobert took the lead alternately, starting a fight without the smell of gunpowder.

Although Russell had no chance to win the regular season MVP award, it only took him half a season to lock in the Most Improved Player Award in advance.

He averaged 24 points, 4 rebounds, 8.5 assists and 2 steals per game and was voted by the fans as a starter for the Eastern Conference All-Stars, fighting a tough battle to turn himself around.

Dinwiddie leads the list of the best sixth man, competing with Eric Gordon of the Rockets. He averages 15 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 steal per game, shooting 46.2% from the field, 38.7% from three-point range, and efficiency. Not vulgar.

Dinwiddie has gradually entered his peak period, providing stable firepower output for the Nets' second lineup.

Lu Yong is very satisfied with the current situation of the team. If he continues to play like this, the Brooklyn Nets will usher in a bumper harvest for the first season in team history. (End of chapter)