NBA: Miracle Workers

Chapter 162 Developing offensive capabilities (6200-word chapter)
Around Thanksgiving, it’s a rare time for the Knicks to relax since the new season.

The combination of different lineups has never been able to achieve the expected results. Jeff Van Gundy and the coaching staff stopped fussing. Everyone accepted the fact that the defensive intensity could not return to the past level.

The Knicks can still dominate, but they are no longer stable. As long as Li You and Alan Houston's status fluctuates, the game will become extremely difficult.

In the past three seasons, the Knicks have never been among the top two in the league on the defensive end. They were first in the league in two seasons, but this year there is a high probability that they will fall out of the top five.

Around Thanksgiving, the Knicks only had two games to play, and the LSAT exam was approaching. In addition to daily training, Li You had to go home at night and continue to prepare for the exam.

On the night of the 26th, at 80:103, the Lakers defeated the Nets and their record reached 10 wins and 4 losses.

After the Nets lost this game, their record reached 2 wins and 11 losses. Marbury will lead the team to dive for the top pick.

16 of 3, 10 points, 1 rebound and 5 assists. Under Harper's defense, Marbury was completely lost.

Sports commentators were not interested in Marbury's statistics, but they praised O'Neal's game content.

出场41分钟，24中14，罚球6中2，30分16篮板7助攻4盖帽，没有失误！
The Sharks played a perfect game, dishing out 7 assists, which seemed to indicate that Phil Jackson's triangle offense was working.
In TNT's post-game commentary, Mike Fratello, who had broken up with the Cavaliers, was invited to the show. At this time, he kept praising O'Neal's dominance in the studio:
"When Shaq can clearly understand the situation on the court and give the ball to open teammates, the Lakers will be unstoppable!"

"No one can stop him at the basket, and when Shaq gets close to the basket, he can score."

"You have to pay the price for double-teaming. Harper has done his job very well. Fisher is also on the right track this season. The Lakers have already produced a chemical reaction!"

The Sharks who can pass the ball are really surprising. In this game, the Lakers sent out 28 assists, but the team only made 10 turnovers.

Grabbed 44 rebounds, 5 steals, and 7 blocks. Although he lost some long rebounds, his flaws were not concealed. Phil Jackson made a qualitative change for the Lakers!
In the studio, Ernie Johnson watched the former Cavaliers coach praise the Lakers and suddenly smiled and asked:

"The Knicks' record after the start of the game is also very good. Which of the two teams is stronger?"

Once briefly serving as an assistant coach with the Knicks, Mike Fratello usually has good things to say about New York, but this year he is no longer optimistic about the Knicks:

"Lee is very good and plays like an MVP. With Houston by his side, he also plays like an All-Star."

"The two can be said to be the strongest backcourt combination in the league at present, but basketball is for five people. What I see is that the Knicks' defensive system is collapsing."

"Maybe they can still play a top-10 defense in the league, but if they want to complete three consecutive championships, this level is not enough."

"Imagine what kind of data Shaq would produce when he meets the Knicks' big men in good form?"

"The Lakers are the better team at the moment, and I believe their condition will get better and better!"

What Kenny Smith noticed was that Harper made 12 of 7 shots and scored 17 points:
"What kind of data will Lee produce when he meets the Lakers backcourt? Shaq also has shortcomings. He has always had problems guarding pick-and-rolls and relies heavily on guards to squeeze through screens."

"Harper might work against Marbury, but guarding Lee, we all know the Bulls story."

"Have you not noticed that it is getting easier and easier for Lee to score 40 points this season?"

Mike Fratello shook his head and quickly gave a counterexample:
"Allen Iverson always scored high points in the first three years of his career, and 40 points was not difficult for him, but the 76ers' best result was in the first round."

"If you want to go further in the playoffs, the team's defense is the key. The closer you are to the basket, the higher your shooting percentage. This is Shaq's advantage."

"."

At home in Tarrytown Town, Milinda watched the two people arguing on the TV show with a smile. The husky Happy on the side barked from time to time, seeming to express dissatisfaction.

After adding some wood to the fireplace, Milinda, wearing loose pajamas, quietly slipped into the study.

Li You and Jin are both immersed in studying questions. One of them has to prepare for the LSAT exam, and the other has to prepare for the New York State Bar exam early next year.

Milinda, who was about to graduate from Connecticut Law School, was the most relaxed. She quietly hugged Li You from behind and said with a smile:
"Why do those sports programs always look down on you? I read the New York newspapers, and everyone is clearly praising the team!"

Not caring that she was exposed, Milinda squeezed into Li You's arms and started causing trouble.

In the past few years, there was too much study, and Dabo girl didn't have so much time. Li You hugged the moving girl, continued to answer questions, and responded simply:

"Because everyone likes to see successful people fail. This is just a repeat of the story of previous years. In 98, they also evaluated Michael Jordan the same way."

Looking at Li You who was studying the questions seriously, Milinda looked at Jin who was immersed in reading across from him. She stood up and went to the other side and said to Jin:
"How about we open a law firm in the future? I think this is a good idea. Counting Alvin, there are exactly four people."

Jin, who has a somewhat serious personality, couldn't resist the lively Milinda. After being hugged, he responded quickly:

“The most important thing is to pass the qualification exam first!”

Looking at Jin who was a little nervous, Milinda said to her ear in a playful way:

"It's already very late, do you want to sleep together tonight?"

Seeing Jin's face suddenly turn red, Milinda, who was back in Li You's arms, laughed softly.

Glancing at the time, Li You patted the troublesome girl, noticed that the husky was getting bigger and bigger, and said helplessly:
"Stop teasing Jin, don't feed Happy too much when I'm not at home, he's about to turn into a pig!"

On the night of the 27th, the first game after Thanksgiving, the Knicks faced the Heat at home.

Christen-Litte, who had a ponytail and looked pretty, sat in the front seat and cheered Li You on.

After the game started, the Knicks were playing hard, and Li You quickly started his personal scoring mode.

Tim Hardaway suffered an injury and had to rest for about two months, but the Heat were not affected too much. Alonzo Mourning and PJ Brown were in good condition.

Anthony Carter, the Heat's starting young guard tonight, was completely confused. At the top of the arc, Nu Nu squeezed past the screen. After a beat, he saw Li You dribbling the ball behind his back with his left hand, seemingly trying to pass between the two of them again. .

Alonzo Mourning had already defended himself. When he saw his teammate cutting the ball, he immediately cooperated to provide physical confrontation and block the breakthrough route.

But the basketball just happened to pass through Anthony Carter's fingertips. Li You nimbly twisted around, scooped up the ball with his right hand, and squeezed past Mourning and Ben Wallace.

Li You broke through to the paint area in an instant. Facing PJ Brown, who quickly came to the inside with his hands raised in the air, his body swayed sharply to the right and suddenly stepped forward to the left.

With a sudden change of direction from the European step, Li You quickly dodged the defense. PJ Brown was stuck in place like a wooden stake, watching Li You succeed with a left-hand pick!
"Wow!"

The New York fans at the scene shouted excitedly. This was not the first time that such a scene had occurred. Facing the Heat's iron barrel formation, Li You could always easily score points under the basket.

Pat Riley on the sidelines gave P.J. Brown a thumbs up for his help defense. The Heat were well prepared tonight. Although they could not limit Li You's breakthrough, they did not suffer any fouls.

On the surface, Pat Riley is calm and calm, but in his heart, he also feels like a lemon. The Heat need such a defender right now!

Mourning has entered his peak period, and PJ Brown has also performed very well on the defensive end this season. Under the iron-blooded defense, the Heat currently have a record of 9 wins and 3 losses.

Just if they want to go further and chase the championship, the Heat also need to develop their offense and need an outside scorer.

Seeing his former assistant transform into a championship coach and break his own record, Pat Riley became angry and clapped his hands and shouted loudly to the players:

"Defense, keep defending! Everyone speed up their rotations!"

"."

Li You had a lively game with sudden shots, but Alan Houston and Larry Johnson were out of form tonight and continued to play.

Even though the game trailed from the start, the New York fans who bought tickets to watch the game didn't care.

After consecutive away games, the New York fans were all suffocating. They watched Li You score continuously and make beautiful goals. For a while, there was only cheering.

In the end, 98:92, the first home game after Thanksgiving, the Knicks lost again.

After the game, the New York fans present at Madison Square Garden were still shouting happily.

出场40分钟，24中14，三分线外11中6，罚球10中9，43分7篮板7助攻4抢断3失误，李佑几乎拿到了尼克斯队一半的分数。

热火队这场比赛也是拼了老命，莫宁出场46分钟，20中12，拿到30分9篮板3盖帽4失误；

PJ-布朗出场了43分钟，10中6，拿到12分11篮板2抢断2失误的数据。

The performance of the two Heat insiders offset Li You's scoring.

Alan Houston made 17 of 5 tonight. After the game, he could only pat his chest in embarrassment, indicating that it was his fault.

Facing a dual-core team, the Heat's fierce perimeter defense still worked.

The New York fans at the scene were all in a state of "the Knicks lost, but Li You did not lose". In the regular season, playing well is sometimes important.

His teammates performed poorly, and Li You could only stay on the sidelines to be interviewed by MSG after the game.

Commentator Mike Breen didn't care about losing, and said with a smile:
"I scored 43 points with a shooting percentage of nearly [-]%. Li, let me introduce to the fans the secret of your efficiency!"

Although he played for 40 minutes, Li You was just like a normal person, with only some sweat on his head:
"Reasonably distribute physical energy, reduce unnecessary shaking, and make your offense simple. At the same time, read the opponent's defense and reduce forced offense."

"If you do these basic tasks well and with the support of your teammates, it will be easy to score!"

Walter Frazier knew that sports commentators have always looked down on the Knicks recently. As a team star, he no longer asked questions at this time, but encouraged loudly:
"Don't worry about the outside world, Lee. We are still No. [-] in the Eastern Conference. Focus on the game and remember to take care of the boys!"

"."

When the Knicks lost, the New York media didn't mention it at all. The newspaper on the second day, after praising Li You's efficient performance, took the opportunity to gossip about several girls who appeared on the sidelines this season.

Milinda looks very similar to the future Emma Stone. She is beautiful, has a good figure, and is particularly photogenic. The New York media has long been familiar with her.Krysten Ritter is tall and tall. Although the little follower has only appeared frequently this season, she is not bad looking. She also looks a bit like the recently popular Anne Hathaway, and she has attracted much attention for a while.

Ivana is more familiar to the New York media. Although she went to study at Georgetown University this year, she was also photographed having dinner with Li You on Thanksgiving.

In addition, Tina Fey from Saturday Night Live sometimes brings beautiful girls to watch games, and the New York Post finally came up with an article:
"Li has few male friends and many female friends."

On November 11th, the Knicks faced the Mavericks at home.

Before the game, Ewing was asked about Nelson in an interview, and he was no longer as weird as before:

"We just don't agree on basketball concepts, but I hope he can succeed with the Mavericks!"

"But if they want to win the championship, they have to break out of the Western Conference first. The Knicks will continue to dominate the league in the future. For this, I can only say sorry in advance!"

When asked about Nowitzki, the gorilla was obviously taken aback, obviously not impressed by the white big man who averaged only 8.2 points per game last season:
"Well, he's a well-rounded big man and I believe he can establish himself in the league."

As the "league's No. [-] center", Ewing has now begun to comment on rookies as a celebrity.

The championship brought huge influence to Ewing, and the New York media, perhaps to make up for past consumption, was particularly tolerant of the gorilla.

No one cares about going to the Gold Club to have fun. After all, he has played for New York for half his life. At the end of his career, it is understandable to indulge in "ball".
In every game, Ewing wears formal clothes, cheers for his teammates on the sidelines, and even gives out chicken soup during timeouts, acting very Buddhist.

Although Ewing is still actively doing rehabilitation training, the painful process has gradually dissipated the gorilla's desire for victory.

Recovering from a serious injury is a cumbersome matter. At the end of his career, Ewing lost his fighting spirit, and Jeff Van Gundy and the coaching staff had nothing to do.

On the night of the 27th, Michael Finley took the lead and defeated the Mavericks in one game.

At 18:29, in the first quarter, the Mavericks fell behind by 11 points.

Although they were behind by double digits, everyone on the Mavericks did not hesitate and continued to run and throw!
In the second quarter of the game, at 2:13 of the single quarter, the end of the half game has entered garbage time.
Nowitzki and Nash were still playing tricks on Michael Finley at this time. Nash was out of form throughout the game and ended up scoring zero points.

He made 21 of 7 shots and scored 20 points. Michael Finley's inefficient performance made Nelson frown on the sidelines.

Nowitzki performed well in the limited shot rights, hitting 9 of 4 and scoring 10 points.

In the end, at 82:110, the Knicks hit hard against the weak Mavericks and easily defeated their opponents.

New York fans haven't had enough, the Knicks have started another road trip.

On November 11, the Knicks challenged the 30ers in back-to-back away games.

Allen Iverson was affected by injuries at the beginning of the season and suffered a contusion on his right knee. He could only wear a gold chain and sit on the bench in a casual suit tonight.

Li You rarely rushed to the basket in the first three seasons. In this era, as long as he rushes to the inside, he will often be knocked to the ground by big players.

"Anti-hit ability" is very important, and muscles are also very important. Currently, Li You, who is full of tendons, can't pull the ball many times. Coupled with some hidden tricks, the big players have to give way.
Philadelphia fans all knew that the team was likely to lose in tonight's game, but no one expected it to be like this.

At 108:74, the 76ers' score did not exceed 80, and they could not score points in garbage time.

Artest, who picked up the slack, made a strong presence tonight. In the third quarter, he knocked down Larry Hughes, who was constantly scoring points, with an elbow. In the fourth quarter, he hugged Bruce Bowen, who was talking trash.

8中3，6分9篮板3助攻1抢断1失误6犯规，阿泰斯特职业生涯第一次犯满离场。

Such a performance made Oakley grin when he returned to the locker room and kept joking:

"They should be beaten hard. Ron performed well, but you should be smarter and do these things where the referee can't see!"

Artest, who was suddenly overwhelmed, actually didn't think about these things at all.

Unlike Oakley's fouls, which are all purposeful, Artest doesn't care who is on the opposite side as long as his emotions come up.
Ben Wallace felt that Artest was just rushing in without any brains, so he also joked:

"In 22 minutes, 6 fouls left the field. We should check when we get back to see if this is the fastest foul record in team history."

Artest, who had completely calmed down, could only scratch his head in embarrassment when he heard the crowd's joking laughter.

Assistant coach Thibodeau did encourage him to strengthen his defense, but apparently he messed up again and went too aggressive.

On December 1999, 12, the NBA announced the best player for the first month of the new season. Li You of the Knicks successfully won the award:
In November, the Knicks achieved a record of 11 wins and 13 losses, leading the league along with the Trail Blazers.

16场比赛，李佑场均出场35.4分钟，场均拿到29.6分5.7篮板8.8助攻2.1抢断1.8失误；

He averaged 18.8 shots per game, shooting 52.4% from the field, 6.7 shots from beyond the three-point line, 46.4% from three-pointers, 7.6 free throws per game, and 92.4% from free throws.

After this data was released, it immediately aroused heated discussion among football commentators, "180 Club", the efficiency exploded!

ESPN specifically introduced Li You's true shooting percentage of 67.3% in subsequent programs, and the public was dumbfounded.

Although the data sample is not large, this performance is also very outrageous.

After the Lakers defeated the SuperSonics at the end of November, their record also reached 11 wins and 11 losses.

The media in Los Angeles were very dissatisfied with O'Neal for not winning the Best of the Month award. Even though the record was not much different, the Sharks' data also exploded.

He averaged 37.4 minutes per game, took 19.6 shots per game, and shot 59.5% from the field!

场均贡献28.7分13.4篮板3.6助攻3.4盖帽2.0失误。

In terms of statistics, in addition to averaging 13.0 free throws per game and a 41.8% free throw shooting rate, O'Neal's statistics are also impeccable.

If you watch the game live, you can feel the Sharks' current dominance.

Violent abuse of the basket is the norm in every game. When he reaches the reasonable collision area, the shark directly throws his arm and slams the dunk, which makes the Lakers fans excited!

With a strong body yet flexible, and a hook shot under the basket, O'Neal seems to be in the best shape of his career this season.

Li You didn't win the Player of the Week award throughout November, and he really couldn't be bothered to complain about such a small award.

The petty O'Neal was different. He seemed to feel that he had not been respected. After defeating the Warriors that night, he walked back to the tunnel and shouted:
"I'm the best player!"

The Lakers only allowed the Warriors to score 2 points in the second quarter, and the game entered garbage time early.

今晚勇士队的内线被鲨鱼给打爆了，21中12，28分23篮板1助攻4盖帽1失误，奥尼尔统治了比赛。

In the TNT post-game commentary, the director also played the scene of O'Neal walking to the locker room and shouting. Kenny Smith laughed out loud and couldn't help but joked loudly:

"Li did perform better in November. Don't forget that he is an outside player. This data is really terrifying."

"You have to know that Mike Dunk doesn't have a three-pointer like him. As I said before, 40 points is not difficult for him."

As a superstar in the league, Li You will be pulled out and studied carefully every season.

The on-site director quickly gave a shot distribution map and noticed that the paint area was red. Mike Fratello also exclaimed:
"It's unbelievable. Lee's playing style has changed a lot this season!"

"Tim Grover seems to have tapped into Lee's physical potential and made his technical style efficient and concise."

"The most important thing is that Lee's confrontation has improved so much. Even if he faces the inside defense of Mourning and P.J. Brown, he can still score easily."

"In previous seasons, when the Knicks played against the Cavaliers, we would only defend his three-pointers. Now it seems that this defensive strategy has completely failed."

Mike Fratello, who coached the Cavaliers in previous years, made more convincing comments. Ernie Johnson nodded and immediately said with a smile:

"It's a pity that the league did not arrange for the Knicks to play the Lakers in this year's Christmas game. I think this is the game that the fans are looking forward to!"

Entering December, the NBA league has also begun to warm up for the next Christmas game.

This Christmas, the league has prepared two games for fans:

Pacers vs. Knicks; Spurs vs. Lakers.

This matchup is a repeat of last year's Eastern and Western Conference finals.

On the night of the 2nd, the Knicks challenged the Bucks away from home.

Before the game started, a bunch of sports media were crowded in front of Li You in the locker room. Everyone was very excited by the November data.

In the current era, there are many stars who can carry the ball, but there are very few outside stars who can efficiently absorb the ball.

The last person to perform efficiently was Michael Jordan. In the early stages of his career, Michael Jordan's efficiency was frighteningly high.
The Yahoo Sports reporter who was squeezed to the back couldn't help but yelled and asked:
"Lee, can you talk about your numbers? What an incredible performance!"

Li You, who was sitting in his seat, watched everyone put a bunch of microphones in front of him, touched his chin, and responded with a chuckle:
"In my opinion, this is just a normal statistic. I also have downturns."

"For the Knicks, my personal data is actually not important. After all, the rankings are based on the team's record."

"Statistics and honors are just additional products of victory. In fact, I don't care about these awards."

"Of course, if high scoring can win the game, then I will do my best to score points."

"."

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(End of this chapter)