I'm really strong in basketball

Chapter 131 2005, Nepal Fire War
After the game, Kobe said in an interview:
"Actually, I don't care about scoring at all. I care more about winning. Statistics are not important!"

Can you believe this is what Kobe No. 8 said?

But considering that before the game, O'Neal mocked Kobe with "74 points", you can figure it out.

Kobe was more responding to O'Neal.

Winner, whatever you say is right!
At this moment, the reporter told Kobe:
"In another Christmas game in New York, Liu He dunked on No. 29 pick Howard, scoring 47 points in a single quarter and [-] points in the game!"

Kobe, who had just said that he didn't care about statistics, had a smile that he had been wearing since the end of the game, and it disappeared in an instant.

As expected, he said he didn't care, but his body was honest.

Kobe even remembered clearly that this was the fifth time Liu He scored 40+ points this season.

It's amazing!

After not seeing each other for a few months, the rookie is getting better and better. I don’t know what the result will be if I challenge him again.

"Of course I win!"

After only a second of hesitation, Kobe had his answer.

But... Howard, the top pick, is too good. Liu He makes a knowing blow every time.

In the visiting team's locker room, O'Neal also heard the news about Liu He.

O'Neill, who was originally full of depression, finally showed a smile.

He knew Kobe very well. The guy had a strong desire to win and wanted to be first in everything.

Liu He played so well tonight, which was enough to make Kobe feel the pressure and challenge, and his good mood was at least halved.

And as long as Kobe is unhappy, O'Neal will be happy.

……

In New York, after the press conference, Spike Lee took Liu He to a celebrity party.

By "coincidence", Liu He met the Kardashian sisters.

After learning that Liu He was alone in the United States, Jin's maternal nature overflowed and she decided to stay in New York to accompany Liu He.

And sister Khloe was afraid that her second sister would be lonely, so she also decided to stay with her sister.

The next day, the New York media published photos of Liu He holding two little girls and going out with the Kardashian sisters.

As a result, the Kardashian sisters, who are not very famous at the moment, have gained a lot of attention, and their exaggerated figures have also triggered heated discussions among fans...

12 month 26 day.

The first day after Christmas.

The Knicks take on the Bobcats at home.

In this game, the four Kardashian sisters once again appeared at Madison Square Garden, which led many fans to believe that Liu He was dating one of Kim or Khloe.

This is nothing to worry about. Liu He is single and he is free to associate with whomever he wants.At most, their exaggerated figures make fans envious.

However, Liu He performed abnormally in this game and only scored 14 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals.

However, the Knicks still relied on their stronger overall strength to defeat the Bobcats led by No. [-] pick Okafor.

After the game, Liu He highly praised Okafor, who scored 19 points, 12 rebounds and 2 blocks, saying that Okafor was the only player in the 04 class who could make him feel the pressure.

Okafor said modestly: He is still a rookie and needs to learn from Liu He. Liu He is the best rookie in this era, bar none.

Looking at this scene, the two talented high school champions James and Howard gritted their teeth and almost smashed the TV.

Afterwards, some entertainment media wondered whether the Kardashian sisters had drained Liu He dry?That's why Liu He's performance was so poor.

After all, their bodies are so fleshy!The combat power visible to the naked eye is amazing.

There were even rumors that Liu He was being double-teamed from left to right, one against two.

New York fans are worried. New York has finally ushered in a new king. It will not be stopped by the Kardashian sisters and it will just decline.

There have been countless super talents in the NBA, but they all ended up disappearing because of their addiction to pornography, gambling and drugs.

In this regard, Liu He simply said: Gambling and drug abuse and I are inseparable.

Some fans joked: "The league should award the best defensive player award to the Kardashian sisters."

Because Liu He is unstoppable this season and cannot be defended at all.But as soon as the Kardashian sisters appeared, Liu He's condition declined.

In the last game of 2004, the Knicks faced the Timberwolves.

这一晚，被球迷怀疑“被榨干的”刘河大杀四方，全场砍下35分9篮板4助攻4抢断1盖帽，带领尼克斯队116：102击败了森林狼队。

At this point, the worries of New York fans disappeared.

As long as Liu He can play on the court, New York fans don't care how he fights a civil war at home or how many people he beats.

Everyone even wanted to exaggerate: "It's so fierce!"

2004 ended with the Knicks achieving an excellent record of 22 wins and 7 losses.

In December, the Knicks were 12-12.

刘河这个月场均可以砍下30.7分7.6篮板4助攻2.3抢断1盖帽。

In the Eastern Conference Player of the Month award, the only one who can threaten Liu He is Wade.

本月韦德场均23分5.9篮板7.7助攻1.5抢断0.8盖帽，热火队更是打出了13胜2负的战绩，战绩比尼克斯队更好。

Of course, in terms of data, Liu He is better.

Both sides have advantages, and a dispute arises.

At this moment, the battle between New York and Miami begins.

In order for their super newcomer to win the honor, the two sides fought fiercely.

Miami took the lead: "Liu He already won this award last month, and it's Wade's turn."

The NBA has this practice.

In the same competition, those who received this honor last year will suffer more in the competition than those who did not receive this honor.

For example, last season's MVP was Garnett. If Garnett and Liu He become the only contenders for MVP this season, Garnett will suffer a bit.

But obviously, this kind of practice is only known in the hearts of everyone, but cannot be said out loud.

New York fans immediately seized on Miami's mistake: "If you don't understand, just ask, isn't the Player of the Month competition not about strength, but about taking turns?"

Miami, which was defeated in one move, quickly changed the subject and changed sides to fight again: "Even in terms of strength, Wade is the better one. The Heat's record is better than the Knicks!"

New York immediately retorted: "Joke! Give Liu He O'Neal, and the Knicks won't even lose a game. Remember the rankings in the summer, the Heat are the top three in the Eastern Conference, and the Knicks are No. 12 in the Eastern Conference. You Heat team plays A good record is a must. After all, the league’s No. 1 team is here, so what does it have to do with Wade? And the Knicks’ ability to have such an excellent record is all thanks to Liu He.”

……

After all, it is the number one city in the United States. In this dispute, New York completely crushed Miami.

So, under the pressure of New York, Stern happily awarded the Eastern Conference Player of the Month to Liu He.

Choose a superstar to train in New York and Miami. Of course, if there is no obvious gap between the two stars, or the gap is not big... If you choose a hundred times, the answer will be New York.

The Western Conference Player of the Month was held by the high-spirited Kobe Bryant, who had just defeated O'Neal.

Liu He and Kobe Bryant won the best player award for the first two months of this season.

Fans suddenly realized that the league was creating a script for "King of New York vs. King of Los Angeles"!
Although the overall strength gap between the two teams is still very large, Liu He already has the capital to compete with Kobe for MVP.

This season, MVP will be the most important battlefield for Kobe and Liu He.

It is conceivable that New York and Los Angeles behind them will definitely join the battle and fight fiercely.

The competition between the two largest cities in the United States can bring terrifying attention and traffic to the NBA.

Stern deserves to be the best general director, best screenwriter, and best planner in NBA history...

Then, the new year arrived.

Good news also came out of the Knicks. "The Postman" Karl Malone is back.

However, in the first two games of the New Year, Malone performed poorly and the Knicks also won one and lost one.

1 month 6 day.

The Knicks have started a two-game road trip, and their first away opponent is the Miami Heat.

This game naturally attracted widespread attention, after all, the Player of the Month competition between Liu He and Wade had just ended.

And this is also the first time O'Neal and Liu He have met after leaving Los Angeles.

In this time and space, because James is always beaten by Liu He and robbed of the Rookie of the Year award, although his statistics are still off the charts, his image in the hearts of fans is far not as strong as it was in history.

With the help of O'Neal, Wade's personal data and team record skyrocketed, becoming the favorite for the championship.

Therefore, in the minds of most fans, Liu He is the No. 03 player in the 1 class, and Wade is the most promising student of his class to challenge Liu He's status.

In addition, one of them is O'Neal's predecessor and the other is O'Neal's current employee. The atmosphere of competition between the two people is very strong.

That night, at the American Airlines Center.

O'Neal gave Liu He a big hug:

"Man, I knew you could play. At the end of the season, if you compete for MVP with that kid Kobe, I will definitely cheer for you. You deserve the MVP more than him!"

Now O'Neal's code of conduct is: as long as it can make Kobe unhappy, he will be happy.

In fact, O'Neal himself has ambitions for MVP.But now everyone can see clearly that the league is pushing the "New York vs. Los Angeles" script, and the performances of Kobe and Liu He are dazzling enough and impeccable.

O'Neal can't win the MVP himself, so Kobe can't get it either.

Liu He happily accepted it.

It is conceivable that when Liu He and Kobe competed for MVP, although O'Neal could not vote, as a former teammate of Liu and Kobe and the current No. 1 in the NBA, his words still carry a lot of weight.

Then, Liu He hugged Wade again.

Liu He found that Wade's eyes were complicated, showing dissatisfaction, challenge and competition, and a little sourness...

Liu He:? ? ?
Liu He didn't know that Wade was cruel in his heart. He wanted to take back all of O'Neal's restless heart tonight.

Then the starting lineups of both sides were announced:
Visiting Knicks:

Position [-]: Zaza Pachulia.

Position [-]: Kurt Thomas.

Number three: Liu He.

No. [-]: Grant Hill.

Position [-]: Jason Williams.

The Heat's starting lineup is:
Fifth position: Shaq O'Neal.

Position [-]: Udonis Haslem.

No. [-]: Eddie Jones.

Position [-]: Dwyane Wade.

Position [-]: Damon Jones.

Game start.

During the jump ball session, O'Neal moved the basketball back to the Heat half.

The Heat go first.

The Heat's offensive pace at the beginning was not fast, which is expected, after all, there is a fat man weighing more than 300 pounds on the court.

Damon advanced to the frontcourt and lobbed the ball directly in.

O'Neal held the ball, knocked Pachulia away when he came up, and scored with a hook.Uh-huh!
0: 2.

Let alone this year, even in the year when O'Neal retired, O'Neal was still invincible on the offensive end, but his physical condition did not allow him to play like this.

Pachulia rubbed her chest, her face full of lingering fear.

This isn't about playing ball, it's obviously about beating monsters.

If you're not careful, you can risk your life.

Pachulia originally thought Liu He's mocking comment on Howard, "Howard will die if he meets O'Neal at his peak," was too exaggerated, but now he doesn't think so at all.

The Knicks attack.

White Chocolate summoned Pachulia to pick and roll from the top of the arc.

This is to address the problem of "O'Neal can't guard the pick-and-roll".

When O'Neal was young, he was very fast.But after joining the Lakers, his weight became more and more exaggerated. Then, after he passed 30 years old in the past few years, his body began to decline and his steps became slower and slower. His inability to stay away from the basket became his fatal flaw.

Nelson captured exactly this.

However, O'Neal did not come out, and Haslem came out.

Stan Van Gundy looked calm on the sidelines.

O'Neal has been targeted countless times this season. Many teams want to catch O'Neal in military training, so the Heat have already had a way to deal with it.

Haslem is a stocky fourth position with quick feet and an excellent defense against pick-and-rolls, which can help O'Neal solve this problem.

After the Knicks were dismantled, Haslem switched to defending White Chocolate and perfectly completed the task of defending the big and small.

Nelson's military training plan failed.

However, "Big Fat" Van Gundy didn't notice that when White Chocolate was blocked, Thomas quietly ran out of the paint area under the basket until he was one step beyond the three-point line.

White Chocolate found Thomas' position and passed the ball immediately.

O'Neal reacted then, but it was too late. He simply stood under the basket and bet that Thomas could not make the shot and he could grab the rebound.

However, this "low-end version of Duncan" has always been a good mid-range shooter. He can control the mid-range in the open position. This season, he shot 44.7% from long two-pointers. Two steps further, the mid-range shot rate was as high as 47.4. %.

Swish!
2: 2.

Thomas told O'Neal with a crisp sound of wiping the net: Backboard?nonexistent!
The fat coach on the sidelines also frowned.

The Knicks' inside configuration, Pachulia has a mid-range shot, Thomas has a longer shooting range, and the fourth and fifth positions have shooting range. It is really too restrained for O'Neal.

Tonight, O'Neal is going to have a hard time.

The Heat attack.

Continue to hang the ball low and give full play to the power of O'Neal's "low-post killer".

Pachulia tried her best but still couldn't stop O'Neal.

This is no wonder Pachulia, let alone him, the DPOY "African Mountain" Mutombo, and the DPOY "Macho Man" Camby later, were like paper in front of O'Neal.

2: 4.

Looking back, the Knicks were on offense.

Thomas and Pachulia continued to move to the middle distance. Haslem worked diligently, but he could only keep up with one.

O'Neal's steps were too slow and he lost sight of Thomas again.

Eddie Jones immediately stepped forward to cover the defense.

Thomas was well prepared and transferred the ball to Liu He in the bottom corner.

Wade rushed to defend Liu He.

However, Liu He was much taller than him and it was too late.This kind of open three-pointer is a giveaway for Liu He.

Swish!
Liu He's first long-range shot hit the target.

5: 4.

At the beginning, both sides were full of firepower, and no one could limit their opponent.

But O'Neal was having a hard time.

He didn't expect that one day, he would become a loophole in the team.

But seeing that the opponent's head coach is Nelson, O'Neal can't accept it.After all, that old guy invented the "shark-killing tactic" specifically for himself.If I had to pick a head coach that O'Neal was afraid of, it would be Nelson.

The Heat attacked and continued to send the ball to O'Neal first.

This time, Liu He immediately shrank and cooperated with Pachulia to help defend.

O'Neal has rich experience and is very familiar with breaking double teams. He first raised the basketball high to avoid Liu He's tackle, and then used his height advantage to pass the ball out.

Eddie Jones is open for a shot.

Swish!
5: 6.

Old Jones's form has declined severely in recent years, but open shots are still very stable and cannot be left open.

It was clear that he had a good touch tonight as well.

As a result, Liu He no longer dared to flank O'Neal easily.

The Knicks attack.

Thomas and Pachulia continued to run outside.

Eddie Jones helped O'Neal, defended Thomas, and let Liu He go.

Liu He was about to take action when he found O'Neal rushing toward him.

It's really scary to have such a huge monster rushing towards you.

Even Liu He felt pressure in his heart.

This guy!
Do you really want to win tonight?
Liu He faked a shot and fired up O'Neal, then directly bypassed O'Neal and entered the penalty area along the baseline.

Haslem was very active and rushed back to defend Liu He.

Liu He didn't panic, jumped slightly, pretended to lay up, tricked Haslem into jumping up to block the shot, and then threw the ball to his side.

Pachulia caught the ball and dunked.

O'Neal is not in the penalty area, Haslem is attracted by Liu He, and the rest of the Heat team cannot limit the 211cm giant in the low post.

boom!
7: 6.

The scores of both sides increased alternately, and it seemed that no one could do anything to the other.

Halfway through the first quarter, 13:12.

Nelson is still rock solid.

On the Heat bench, Pat Riley came over with Spoelstra.

"Stan, you fell into that old guy's trap."

Van Gundy was puzzled.

Spoelstra explained for his senior brother: "O'Neal has been playing hard on the offensive end, and he is being trained by his opponents on the defensive end. How long can he last under such circumstances?"

If it were O'Neal at his peak, it wouldn't be a big deal if he played for a whole game.

But now, O'Neal is about to be 33 years old. You can't expect a 33-year-old giant to continue to exert strength on both ends of the offense and defense and play a whole game.

Big Fat woke up with a start, breaking out in a cold sweat.This old Nelson is too awesome.

He quickly called a timeout, and sure enough he found that O'Neal was breathing much harder and sweating more than usual at this time.

Big Fat quickly adjusted his tactics, allowing Wade to take on more offensive tasks and giving O'Neal a chance to breathe.

Pause back.

Wade holds the ball at the top of the arc, waiting for opportunities.

Nelson saw the Heat's adjustments at a glance.

He called Tyson Chandler over: "Tyson, get ready to play."

"By the way, tell Jason (Williams) to play faster next time."

On the court, Wade used Haslem's pick-and-roll breakthrough.

Thomas switches to guard Wade.

Thomas himself is a very good fourth position in defending big and small, but he still can't keep up with Wade.

No wonder O'Neal gave Wade the nickname "The Flash."There are only wrong names in the world, not wrong nicknames.

Wade's iconic flying to the ground passed Thomas.

Liu He immediately shrank toward the basket and filled in for Thomas.

Wade pulled the lever in the air to avoid Liu He's long arm and passed the ball out.

Eddie Jones catches and shoots.

Swish!
13: 15.

The fat coach breathed a sigh of relief.

Although Wade is only in his second year, he already has strong offensive ability with the ball.As long as Wade can open up, O'Neal can save some energy on the offensive end.

But will Nelson let Big Fat get his wish?
Chandler took the opportunity to come on and replaced Pachulia.

Unlike Pachulia, Chandler has no shooting ability, and his scoring methods are mainly pie-eating and secondary attacks.

As soon as Chandler comes on the court, O'Neal can stay under the basket without going out.

After all, Chandler's scoring ability is zero when he leaves the basket, and he can completely let go.

In this way, O'Neal can also save energy on the defensive end and guard the penalty area better.

The fat coach was a little confused: Didn't Old Nelson break his own arm?The Knicks' advantage is that they have shooting ability inside, which can make O'Neal exhausted on the defensive end. He actually gave up on his own initiative?

Subsequently, Thomas entered the penalty area and missed a layup due to O'Neal's interference.

The Heat counterattacked.

Wade entered the penalty area, but failed to score due to Chandler's interference.

The boxing champion's defensive ability is clearly superior to Pachulia's.

Chandler protected the rebound and found White Chocolate immediately.

White Chocolate followed Old Nelson's instructions and pushed forward at full speed. This is his best style of play.

The five Knicks rushed to the frontcourt like mercury pouring down the ground, at extremely fast speed.

A four-on-five situation soon formed.

Hill received a pass from White Chocolate and broke into the Heat's penalty area.

Haslem worked conscientiously and stood in front of Hill.

Hill passed the ball without looking at anyone and handed it to Chandler who followed behind.

Chandler took off the ball and dunked with both hands.

boom!
15: 15.

At this time, O'Neal had just reached the three-point line.

(End of this chapter)