NBA: Miracle Workers

Chapter 97 True All-Star (daily chapter)
After the Christmas Day game, the Knicks had just two games left in 1997.

The fans in New York are still in a state of self-confidence. Every time they beat Michael Jordan, there will be a new round of loan frenzy. Before the playoffs, the championship has already belonged to New York!

After easily defeating the Raptors, the No. 30 pick, the Knicks beat the Magic in an away game on the night of the [-]th.

Anfernee Hardaway remains injured.
Since then, the 1997 schedule has all come to an end.

After flying back to New York overnight, Li You can spend his 20th birthday in peace at home.

Not long ago, everyone in the Knicks had just celebrated Charles Oakley's 34th birthday. The old guy still failed to get a contract. Grunfeld believed that Oakley had begun to decline.

Although such an operation is a bit merciless, if you only look at Excel, Oakley's performance is indeed not as efficient as last season.

The knock-on effect of Ewing's injury is that the team needs Oakley to participate more in defense and grab more rebounds.

The defensive end consumes too much physical energy. On the offensive end, Oakley feels mediocre in many games, and all mid-range and long-range jumpers are all ironed.

It is difficult to evaluate the Knicks' choice. Giving the 34-year-old short man a big contract does take a lot of risks, but it is more due to the fact that the boss will be completely replaced in two years.

The whole Knicks team knew that Charles Dolan's good son was an out-and-out playboy, and the son inherited his father's career, and the team just changed hands.

In order to make a statement to this man, Grunfeld did the same thing as all general managers in the league-save money.

In New York, the Knicks, who have never had to worry about selling tickets, are actually very rich, but how the new owner wants to build the team is not up to the general manager.

Regardless of the internal situation, the Knicks finally ended perfectly, with 26 wins and 3 losses, leading the league!
Oakley still failed to reach a contract extension with the team, which made the old guy very dissatisfied.

Ewing was absent, and he even played defensively, but the management was indifferent.

Counting this season, the old guy has played for the Knicks for 10 years, and during this period, the salary is not much.

In Oakley's view, at the end of his career, asking for a big contract is the reward he deserves!
Li You did not choose to hold a birthday party in a very ostentatious manner.

Ewing was seriously injured, and the future of several veterans was unclear, but he was destined to get a big contract, and it was inevitable that Lemon would be there.

"Although the Knicks have achieved an amazing record, whether they can go further in the playoffs depends on whether Ewing can recover in time."

"We could see the Knicks' rebounding problem after Ewing's injury, and in the playoffs, that problem will be magnified!"

"No one will let go of such a flaw. In the high-intensity defensive playoffs, once Lee and Alan Houston's efficiency drops, it will be difficult for them to win."

In the TNT studio, McHale talked eloquently. The legendary star was not polite, and he almost said that the Knicks could not win the championship.

On the other side, Kenny Smith, who joined TNT just after announcing his retirement, shook his head and gave different opinions:
"The rebounding of the Knicks does not seem to be a big problem. At present, they have played an extremely efficient offense. Under the dual-core instigation of the outside line, it is difficult for any team to really limit them."

"You may not know Lee, he is not Reggie Miller, his excellent control skills can help him reach the area of ​​attack he is good at."

"I've played against him, and he's not the kind of guard we know who only passes the ball to big men, and he's not a pure scorer like Michael Kou."

"Lee can pass the ball, find his teammates accurately in the fast break, can organize the team's offense, and when the Knicks need to score, he can also respond."

"In my opinion, he's more like Kevin Johnson, 20 points and 10 assists, but Lee is better at shooting!"

"."

In the Manhattan apartment, Li You leisurely watched the two people who were arguing together on the TV.

TNT's program is currently very professional, and retired celebrities commenting on the league's popular teams are even more convincing.

Li You only invited Ai Wen for his birthday this year, but before the time for the silver party, his friend was a little bit unmotivated:

"I seriously doubt that these commentators have amnesia. A few days ago, McHale was still saying that the Knicks are the most promising team to win the championship. This will change his tune again."

In Hartford, as long as Ivan reads the newspaper, he can see the news of the Knicks blowing up every day. With passive attention, he also discovered the superficial attributes of these media.

Li You doesn't care about this, he is not Ewing, and he likes to see these football critics comment on him.

Whether it's criticism or praise, as long as it can bring fun, Li You thinks the show is worth watching:
"Mutual understanding is all about making money! In the future, there may be a platform where not only football critics but also fans can speak freely."

Li You suddenly missed the era of the keyboard man, but Ai Wen's eyes lit up, and he felt that this matter was reliable, and said excitedly:
"That's a good idea, we should make it happen!"

"."

Li You didn't speak, but just looked at his friend teasingly, and soon Ai Wen also realized that both of them were technical idiots, so he immediately changed his tone and said:
"Well, we can invest in it! It's like investing in Yahoo! Incredible! Their stock price is going up so fast!"

Seeing his friends getting more and more excited as they talked, Li You knew that he had been fooled by Yahoo's soaring market value.

Yang Zhiyuan is almost the idol of young people in this era. Everyone loves "The Chief". It can also be said that everyone loves billionaires!
On January 1998, 1, the first day of the New Year, the NBA announced the Player of the Month for December, and Li You of the Knicks successfully won the award:
尼克斯队在12月取得了11胜3负的战绩，李佑场均出场34.3分钟，场均拿到20.5分3.4篮板9.4助攻1.8抢断2.1失误；

He averaged 14.6 shots per game, shooting 46.3% from the field, 6.9 shots from beyond the three-point line, 42.5% from three-pointers, 4.6 free throws per game, and 85.7% from free throws.

The performance was almost 20+10, which caused the New York media to blow it up on the first day of the new year.

With the blessing of Excel, the "No. [-] point guard" began to become well-deserved.

Data can reflect the strength of players, and under big data, it can also reflect the player's style of play.

Ball critics are not blind, three-pointers accounted for half of the proportion, and two-pointers, Li You also mostly concentrated below the left and right blocks.

Coupled with the number of attacks from the middle distance, Li You's data looks extremely efficient, and the true shooting percentage of 61.5% can explain some problems.

When Li You won the award, the Chicago media began to complain about Michael.

In December, the Bulls also had a record of 12 wins and 11 losses. Mike Dunn averaged 3 minutes per game, 37.4 points per game, and a shooting percentage of 28.4%.

In general, except for the 20-for-8 Christmas match, in most games, Mikou played very well.

The New York media was not polite at this time. In addition to turning over old accounts and mocking Michael Jordan for losing the Christmas game, they also slammed the heart of shrimp:
"Michael Jordan's [-]-pointer was off the mark after the [-]-point line was changed back to normal distance!"

"Without the care of the league, the Bulls couldn't have reached the Finals last year!"

After digging deep into Michael Jordan's data, 18.8% of his three-pointers became the object of attack by the New York media.

As for Maikou who only took 1.1 shots from outside the three-point line, no one cares, and the spray is over!Anyway, there is always a reason
On January 1, the Knicks challenged the Nets in an away game. The inside partner formed by the No. 2 pick Keith Van Horn and Jason Williams poured cold water on the New York media.

At 96:103, the Knicks played a good offense, but eventually lost in the paint.

范霍恩16中9，三分线外5中3，砍下29分，而贾森-威廉姆斯8中5，拿到11分15篮板，其中有7个是前场篮板。

In the first game of the new year, everyone on the Knicks didn't work hard, and grabbing rebounds was also a physical effort.

35:42, lost 7 rebounds, Jeff Van Gundy was very helpless about this.

Fortunately, in the back-to-back games that followed, the big-bodied Magic team gave warmth, which prevented a losing streak.

On January 1, after the video class in the morning, Jeff Van Gundy couldn't help sighing:

"We should add another insider. Dudley is not suitable for starting. He has some problems with finishing at the basket."

Assistant coach Thibodeau doesn't want to get involved in this topic. Everyone knows that general manager Grunfeld doesn't care about the opinions of the bald young coach.

On the other side, the assistant coach Don Chaney doesn't care about losing, and the record is leading, just to increase the room for error:

"Larry's condition is getting better and better, and Lee has activated everyone. Losing some games can also help us run the lineup better."

Jeff Van Gundy also caught Don Chaney's voice:

"Ewing's injury is too serious, give up the inside attack!"

Eating cakes is also a technical job. Ewing can score steadily as long as he wants to, while other insiders don't have this effect.

Jeff Van Gundy is also a little helpless about this. Every time he sees the team taking a lot of three-pointers, he always feels that the game is out of control
On Jan. 1, at Madison Square Garden, Jeff Van Gundy felt like he was in the front row.

The Knicks had no way to deal with the repeated attacks of Juwan Howard and Chris Webber inside, but the Wizards were still behind.

Li You, Alan Houston, and Larry Johnson kept scoring points. The two sides almost gave up defense, and the score rose slowly.

In the end, 105:113, relying on a stronger offense, the Knicks successfully won the game.

Li You was 18-for-10, Alan Houston was 17-for-10, and Larry Johnson was 14-for-7. The three scored 76 points together. Such a performance made the New York fans happy.

Jeff Van Gundy just glanced at the stats and was completely confused. Tonight's game did not go according to plan.
The bald young commander's expression of neither sadness nor joy made Walter Fraser in the commentary nod secretly:
"Coach Van Gundy's adjustments were very timely. When we did not have an advantage in the interior, we took the initiative to speed up, and finally won the game relying on the outstanding shooting of the boys."

"The coaching staff has done a great job, New York fans don't have to worry about it, we are on the right path!"

"."

The crazy praise of the New York media after the game made Jeff Van Gundy feel guilty again.

On the training ground, the players train step by step, but in the game, the plan can't keep up with the rapid changes, and the bald young coach sometimes can't predict the result of the game.

As the all-star voting channel is about to be closed, the New York media continues to solicit votes for Li You, constantly poisonous milk!
As a result, after avenging the Nets, the Knicks lost three games in a row
After successive losses to the Bulls, Sonics, and Eagles, the Knicks' record came to 29 wins and 7 losses.

The Sonics, who are in good shape, have already caught up at this time, with a record of 29 wins and 8 losses, and the league's first position almost changed hands.

Despite losing consecutive games, New York fans don't care. The Knicks are still number one in the league and are still far ahead in the Eastern Conference.

On January 1, the NBA announced the results of the 19 New York All-Star voting, and the starting lineups of the East and West leagues were officially released.

The tainted milk of the New York media still played a role. In the voting of the guards in the East, Michael Jordan was far ahead, and Li You also successfully won the starting position.

With 102.8 million votes, Maikou won the All-Star vote champion for the 9th time in his career, the only one in history.

With 51.8 votes, Li You finally succeeded in surpassing Anfernee Hardaway's 50.9 votes and entered the All-Star starting lineup for the first time in his career.

In the voting of the Eastern forwards, the real Jordan successor Grant Hill got 83.9 votes, and Sean Kemp of the Eastern Tour got 51.8 votes;

The two overwhelmed Pippen and Rodman and became the starting forwards in the Eastern Conference.

For the center position, Mutombo won 47.6 votes, a substantial lead over Alonzo Mourning, and was elected as the starting center for the Eastern All-Stars without any suspense.

The results of the Western All-Star voting were also somewhat unexpected. Kobe Bryant of the Lakers finally got 39.6 votes and successfully got the starting position.

Gary Payton received 55.6 votes, both of whom surpassed Stockton.

There is not much suspense about the voting results of the Western forwards. Karl Malone had 61.6 votes and Kevin Garnett had 51.3 votes. The two easily got the starting position of the Western forwards.

At the center position, O'Neal finally got 56.5 votes, just ahead of David Robinson's 54.9 votes.

The Sharks represented the Lakers in the All-Star Game for the first time in their careers.

After the results of the voting were announced, most of the old guys picked lemons. Obviously, the league is about to be renewed. There are too many young faces in this All-Star Game.

On the evening of the 19th, before the game against the Celtics, Li You was also interviewed in the locker room.

There were two or three layers of people in front of him, and the New York media was in a good mood. Everyone cheered for Li You for more than two months, and finally squeezed out Anfernee Hardaway!
"Li, congratulations on getting the All-Star starting position. The All-Star Game will be held in New York. Apart from the main game, will you participate in the three-point shooting contest?"

Seeing that everyone was looking at him eagerly, Li You immediately replied affirmatively:
"Of course, I have accepted the league's invitation to win the three-point shootout championship in front of New York fans. I am grateful for everyone's support for me!"

Even though Li You won a single championship with a smile, the reporters around didn't care. Instead, they booed and agreed. The competition hadn't started yet, and everyone was hilarious again.
"Li, will you strive for the MVP of the All-Star Game? This is our home stadium!"

Li You stroked his chin, then suddenly said playfully:

"Last year, I seemed to only get 2 points. Don't talk about MVP, this year I just want to get more points!"

"."

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(End of this chapter)