“We have to be careful with the beer in the hands of Boston fans!”

The fans in the front row who broke through the defense were swearing at this time, and the fans who did not leave also started cursing.

They were full of hope in the first three quarters, but the Celtics only scored 12 points in the last quarter.

Lee played for 39 minutes, made 12 of 19 shots, 7 of 11 from beyond the three-point line, 10 of 10 free throws, 41 points, 5 rebounds, 10 assists, 2 steals and 2 turnovers.

The two people in the commentary booth were speechless when they saw the data.

In the end, Sean Grande summed up the game:

“The boys played well. Coach Pitino has fulfilled the talents of the players this season.”

“We still need to optimize some game details, but the Celtics are on the right track.”

As the game time ran out, the Knicks defeated the Celtics away from home with a score of 110:94!

Paul Pierce did not greet the Knicks players after the game.

After a simple handshake, he turned and left.

Antoine Walker made 9 of 26 shots and scored 24 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 turnovers inefficiently, but he didn’t care about it.

He was laughing and praising Lee for the business.

This performance made the famous Bob Cousy in the commentary booth secretly shake his head:

“Sooner or later, get rid of this inefficient brush”

A career high, Clay Lee’s 40+10 made the New York media ecstatic!

After a night of joy, the Knicks lost the last game of February when they challenged the Pistons away from home.

On March 1, the NBA announced the Player of the Week for the last week of February and the Player of the Month for February, and the Knicks’ Lee successfully won the award.

In February, the Knicks had an 11-2 record, with a relatively easy schedule, and Lee also played efficiently:

He averaged 35.2 minutes per game, 25.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, 10.5 assists, 1.7 steals and 2.1 turnovers;

He averaged 17.1 shots per game, shooting 50% from the field, and 6.1 shots per game from beyond the three-point line, shooting 40.8% from three-point range;

He averaged 5.8 free throws per game and shot 91.5% from the free throw line.

There was no customized data this time, but Lee successfully entered the “180 Club” in February!

On March 1, at Madison Square Garden, New York fans cheered loudly for Lee, who was holding two trophies.

NBA league staff also smiled and applauded.

Michael Jordan has retired and a new round of star-making movement has begun.

Currently, Lee’s performance is in line with expectations.

The cameras in the hands of the media reporters around him kept clicking.

This week’s news material was ready!

In the game against the Cavaliers that night, Ewing finally found some motivation and played his best performance since the start of the season.

10 of 17 shots, 26 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 blocks, 2 turnovers, and a great performance from mid-range, which also made Ewing smile again.

78:102, the Knicks defeated the Cavaliers at home!

Shawn Kemp’s condition began to fluctuate, and after the game, the Cavaliers’ record was 5 wins and 7 losses, and they fell out of the top 8 again.

Since there are a total of 18 games in March and the schedule is very tight, Jeff Van Gundy decided to give Ewing some psychological massage early.

On the morning of the 2nd, at the Tarrytown Training Center, after the morning video class ended, the bald young coach invited the gorilla to have a meal and have a chat.

Of course, everyone on the Knicks team knew why Ewing was so unmotivated.

He has a big contract and a championship, but his physical condition has declined, he can’t carry the ball, and he has no statistics, so he naturally cannot pursue honors.

After all, the league’s awards don’t involve fighting spirit, and without Excel, the sports media won’t vote.

Lee entered the “180 Club” in February, and the New York media was in a tizzy, but Ewing fell further into despair, and his enthusiasm for training sessions began to wane.

The afternoon training session had not yet begun.

In the locker room, Oakley didn’t care about his old friend’s condition and said casually:

“Pat just hasn’t recovered from the offseason. As long as the playoffs come, he will be nervous.”

“Except for the Heat and the Pacers, the other teams are not very threatening. We have a chance to defend our title this year!”

Larry Johnson didn’t like the gorilla’s attitude, but he didn’t say much at this time:

“This damn schedule gives us no chance to play against the Western Conference teams!”

“Although I don’t have to fly around, but 18 games, almost one game a day, plus the same opponents, it’s boring just thinking about it.”

Alan Houston was looking at the schedule posted in the locker room.

He flipped through it and complained,

“The entire month of April is the regular season, and most of them are Eastern Conference opponents. The league might consider going straight to the playoffs.”

Sprewell didn’t care about these, but asked Lee in a low voice:

“Will the team make any personnel adjustments?”

Maybe when he first joined the team, Sprewell didn’t care too much.

But as his performance gets better and better, and he is expected to win the championship, Sprewell also wants to get a ring.

Lee was a little surprised that the other party would pay attention to this issue, and then he responded seriously:

“We probably won’t make too many adjustments. After all, our record is pretty good. In the past two years, the team rarely made too many trades in the middle of the season.”

Upon hearing this, the atmosphere group felt relieved.

If someone was laid off midway, they might not be able to find a job, and being able to get their full salary was what everyone wanted.

Jeff Van Gundy’s heart-to-heart talk was effective.

At least Ewing was no longer lazy, and the second round of weight loss officially began.

The schedule for the games in early March was extremely boring, with the Heat and Bucks playing each other repeatedly.

On the evening of the 9th, after returning to their home court, the Knicks successfully took revenge and defeated the Bucks.

Repeated encounters and repetitive schedules have made Ray Allen lose his form.

He made 2 of 11 shots tonight and scored only 6 points.

After losing this game, the Bucks’ record dropped to 10 wins and 6 losses.

There is no adjustment time, and Ray Allen has to fly to Indiana overnight with the team to continue challenging the Pacers.

Not only the players were bored, but the fans who bought tickets to watch the game were also fed up!

Fortunately, New York has never lacked tourists, and the games are still full, while in some small markets, the attendance rate began to decline, and the team’s revenue also had problems.

By late March, the Knicks finally said goodbye to the repetitive schedule and started a short journey in the Western Conference.

On the evening of the 24th, the away game against the Kings once again attracted the attention of many fans.

This season the Kings drafted Jason Williams, and then traded for Divac and Chris Webber from the Hornets and Wizards.

The head coach was also replaced by Rick Adelman, and the team can be said to be completely new!

Although the record so far is 11 wins and 16 losses, ranking only 9th in the Western Conference, the poor record has not affected the attendance rate.

Jason Williams’ fancy passes made the Kings fans buy tickets to support him!

After the game started that night, the Kings fans present were very involved and kept shouting loudly.

But as Jason Williams was repeatedly intercepted by Clay Lee, the cheers became quieter and quieter.

With 4 minutes and 56 seconds left in the first quarter, Alan Houston missed a three-pointer from the right wing, and Jason Williams grabbed the rebound, giving the Kings a rare opportunity for a transition offense.

Jason Williams dribbled across half court quickly with his left hand holding the ball, and was extremely active facing Lee’s defense.

Even though he had made three mistakes, the rookie guard’s desire to perform was not reduced in the slightest.

On the left wing outside the three-point line, Jason Williams began to slow down, approached the three-point line, quickly completed a cross-leg dribble, switched to his right hand, and immediately dribbled behind his back.

Pretending to look up and observe the movements of his teammates at the top of the arc, Jason Williams switched to his left hand and began to twist his body, preparing to shot the ball.

Just when he was about to shot the ball to the basket, Lee suddenly rushed forward, first squeezed forward, cut the ball with his left hand, slapped the basketball away, then took the ball again with his right hand and quickly pushed the ball forward.

Jason Williams, who was about to pass the ball, was knocked and staggered.

When he wanted to turn around to defend, Lee had already picked up the ball with his right hand and rushed across half court.

With 1 vs 0 in the frontcourt, the arena was filled with boos.

Lee quickly rushed to the paint area, took three steps, grabbed the ball with his right hand, and easily made a one-handed slam dunk!

“Boo!!”

After completing the dunk, Lee shook his head and quickly retreated.

Adelman on the sidelines rubbed his eyebrows and simply requested a timeout.

At 19:12, the score difference was heading towards double digits again.

As he was walking towards the bench, just as he passed by Jason Williams, Lee smiled and whispered,

“Rookie, don’t show off your crappy passes in front of me!”

“I”

Jason Williams wanted to say something back, but was immediately pulled away by Chris Webber, who warned him in a low voice:

“If you don’t want to break through to the basket and lie on the ground, don’t take the initiative to provoke him!”

Jason Williams, with an unconvinced look on his face, returned to the bench in frustration.

He was yelled at twice by Adelman before he regained his composure.

In the subsequent games, the Kings’ smooth cooperation all disappeared.

Facing the Knicks’ fierce frontcourt rebounds, transition offense became less and less.

The fans had expected Jason Williams to perform well, but not only did he lose his fancy passes, he also had difficulty scoring and could only throw three pointers from the outside.

With 1 minute and 32 seconds left in the first half, Jason Williams faked a dribble on the right wing and missed a long two-point jump shot.

The long rebound was caught by Larry Johnson, who then passed it hard towards the front court.

Lee quickly rushed across half court, scooped up the ball, put it in his right hand and continued to accelerate, ignoring Jason Williams on his side, came to the paint area, took three steps, relied on the defense, grabbed the ball with his right hand, and made a layup!

“squeak!”

The referee blew the whistle for the pulling and dragging defense.

Jason Williams put his hands on his hips in frustration after landing and received three fouls in the first half.

The Kings fans at the scene also realized at this time that apart from those fancy passes, this rookie was just an inefficient point guard.

The fans who were full of expectations saw the score of 58:41 at halftime.

As the team failed to narrow the gap in the third quarter, the game quickly entered garbage time.

The Kings finally played brilliantly again, but the fans who were there felt it was boring.

After all, victory is what everyone is pursuing.

2 of 7, 1 of 5 from beyond the three-point line, 3 of 4 free throws, 8 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 6 turnovers.

Jason Williams had a sullen face on the bench, and the media’s hype before the game became a joke.

Lee does not have much defensive experience, he just has better physical fitness.

He gives enough physical confrontation when leading the defense and defends with his waist when squeezing the screen.

Before he could use some of his little tricks, Jason Williams himself played poorly on the Knicks bench.

Jeff Van Gundy was more concerned about Ewing’s competitive state.

The competition continued, and by late March, the gorilla had become slack again, and the thick chicken soup only worked for half a month.

Assistant coach Thibodeau naturally knew what Jeff Van Gundy was worried about, and whispered to comfort him:

“Don’t worry about Pat’s condition. It’s normal to lose some back-to-back games. Players are not robots.”

The bald young coach is somewhat helpless.

Although the Knicks still lead the league, he is more worried about slacking off in the regular season and getting injured in the playoffs:

“I just don’t want Pat to get injured again. He should lose weight, even if it means reducing low-post offense, he should continue to lose weight.”

“I trust the team doctor’s judgment!”

The coaching staff remained silent.

There was no solution to this problem.

As the game time came to an end, the final score was 102:88, and the Knicks easily defeated the Kings.

In this point guard duel, Lee played only 28 minutes:

He made 7 of 12 shots, 2 of 4 from beyond the three-point line, and 5 of 5 free throws, scoring 21 points, 3 rebounds, 8 assists, 4 steals and 1 turnover.

Although he didn’t play much, he once again impressed Kings fans.

Everything is afraid of comparison.

On March 26, the Knicks visited Los Angeles to challenge the Lakers.

The New York media keeps shouting “the best center in the league”, which has already made O’Neal suffer the consequences!

The Lakers have undergone major changes this season.

Del Harris was fired at the beginning of the season, and the current head coach has been replaced by Kurt Rambis.

In early March, the Lakers also sent away backup centers Elden Campbell and Eddie Jones in exchange for Glen Rice from the Hornets.

This deal indicates that Kobe Bryant has been officially promoted.

Of course, O’Neal’s big mouth and the above transactions are not what the spectators care about!

The Lakers signed Dennis Rodman, and when he arrived in Los Angeles, he quickly “got along” with Jeanie Buss, the daughter of old Buss!

Many gossip media reported the two’s experience of fighting in the hotel in vivid detail.

The Knicks who had just flown to Los Angeles naturally saw these “interesting” newspaper articles.

Rodman brought his own traffic and always made some big news.

That night, the Great Western Forum was packed.

The Lakers currently have a record of 19 wins and 11 losses, and have been overtaken by the Spurs and Jazz, ranking third in the Western Conference.

With his record overtaken, O’Neal naturally began to decline in the MVP rankings.

Karl Malone and Tim Duncan have surpassed the Shark.

The performance did not meet expectations, and Rodman took away a lot of rebounds.

O’Neal was in a very bad mood recently.

A new round of star-making movement in the league has begun, and Shark also want to take this opportunity to win the MVP.

The Lakers players present felt that the team was on the right track.

Glen Rice showed good form after joining the team, and Rodman was still able to play even though he was 37 years old.

Everyone thought it was a evenly matched game, but the Knicks couldn’t defend their inside offense, so they simply used the Hack-a-Shaq tactic, which directly stunned O’Neal.

In the first half of the game, Shark made 4 of 9 shots and 2 of 9 free throws, scoring 10 points and 1 rebound.

The free throw shooting was terrible and Rodman took the rebound away.

50:42. Looking at the score on the field and thinking of O’Neal who missed many free throws at halftime, the Lakers fans gradually fell silent.

This center duel was naturally broadcast live across the United States.

On the TNT commentary booth, Dick Stockton saw O’Neal’s data and said helplessly:

“There is no perfect player. Shaq has tried his best, but he just couldn’t hit those free throws tonight, which gave the Knicks too many half-conversion opportunities.”

Hubie Brown on the side really likes the game strategy formulated by the Knicks:

“Coach Van Gundy seized the Lakers’ weakness. In the first half, there were a lot of pick-and-rolls at the No. 5 position, which forced a lot of delays. Perhaps this is also the reason why O’Neal missed free throws.”

Considering that the media has recently started discussing the MVP issue, Dick Stockton also took the opportunity to give his own opinion:

“The Knicks currently have a record of 13 wins and 3 losses in March, and Lee is still ranked first in the MVP rankings. Based on his current performance, I will vote for him!”

Hubie Brown noticed Ewing’s condition and nodded in agreement, then shook his head and sighed:

“Ewing’s condition has declined this season. Like Olajuwon, their usage rates are declining.”

“Lee has taken more possessions this season. In March, his shots went up a bit, but his efficiency didn’t drop. If there is a vote, I will vote for him.”

After the start of the second half, the Knicks took the lead and Lee faced Derek Harper’s defense and quickly crossed half court.

O’Neal in the inside saw Ewing strolling to the left wing again, and had no choice but to move his feet and follow him to defend.

Lee, who had been protecting the ball sideways, saw O’Neal following him to the three-point line.

He suddenly lowered his center of gravity, held the ball in his left hand and pretended to break through to the left.

After taking a big step and dribbling quickly behind his back, Lee switched to his right hand, leaned forward and shook, then turned around quickly.

Ewing stood still, Lee scooped up the ball with his left hand while following the screen, Derek Harper failed to squeeze through the pick-and-roll, and O’Neal was forced to delay again.

Standing on the three-point line, Lee suddenly changed direction, swayed his body to the right, and scooped up the ball with his right hand and quickly dribbled it behind his back.

O’Neal hurriedly adjusted his center of gravity, but Lee’s shoulder breakthrough after catching the ball was too fast and passed by him in the blink of an eye.

“oh!!”

Seeing O’Neal being broken through again, the Lakers fans at the scene exclaimed.

Moving forward to defend, O’Neal slid continuously and quickly came to the basket.

Lee grabbed the ball with his left hand and leaned forward to make a layup without waiting to get close to the basket.

He quickly jumped up to block the shot, but O’Neal was still a step too slow and watched the basketball fly over his fingertips and hit the top of the backboard.

Unable to control his body, he bumped into Lee.

O’Neal cursed inwardly, and after landing, he saw the basketball go into the basket.

At the same time, the referee blew the whistle:

“squeak!!”

In the commentary booth, Dick Stockton saw Lee break through again and said in a brisk tone:

“Nice goal, a 45-degree cut from the left. Lee made good use of the screen and got his third foul. Shaq should pay attention to his fouls!”

The Great Western Forum Arena was filled with boos.

Lee didn’t care about the atmosphere and walked towards the free throw line with a smile.

O’Neal looked depressed and didn’t want to talk.

Lee took the basketball from the referee, patted the ball, and said with a smile:

“Free throws are the easiest way to score. You can make them with your eyes closed!”

After saying this, Lee closed his eyes and threw the ball with a smile on his face.

“Swish!” The basketball went into the net.

O’Neal was so angry that he didn’t care that the referee was right next to him.

He pointed at Lee and shouted loudly, regardless of his teammates’ attempts to stop him:

“Shit! I swear, if you get under the basket again, I’ll make you lie on the ground!”

Lee smiled and retreated, spreading his hands to the opponent.

Oakley and Ewing laughed at the same time.

The old man also took the opportunity to tease:

“Fuck! You are the “No. 1 Center”? You can’t even shoot a free throw!?”

….

By the way, don’t forget to throw power stones and leave a review to motivate me 🙂

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep