Basketball trainer, I created a super giant

Chapter 308 A point guard, not organizing, but improving his offense.
The Knicks' dominant victory over the Magic, displaying an invincible performance, even made the New York Times, which usually blindly praises the Knicks and acts arrogantly, somewhat unsure of itself.

In its report the following day, the New York Times unusually refrained from excessive praise of the Knicks, instead adopting a more modest tone.

They actually called on New York fans to calm down.

Yesterday's victory was so bizarre.

The Knicks' starters and bench players are all in incredibly good form, but this may just be because they're getting into the swing of things quickly in the new season.

They also had their reasons and evidence.

Other teams have gone through a long offseason, and even with preseason games, they still need time to adjust and regain their form.

It usually takes until November for all the players to gradually regain their form.

But the Knicks are different.

All the Knicks players trained with Townsend all summer.

Their form has never dipped, so they can perform at their best at the start of the season.

This ebb and flow is what allowed the Knicks to perform so well yesterday.

A 60% hit rate? That's practically cheating.

Can the Knicks maintain such a good performance throughout that long season?
This has led to another concern.

That means the Knicks hit their stride too early.

After last season, while other teams took a break, the Knicks trained for another summer.

In the entire year, the Knicks players barely got any rest.

The Knicks are in good form now, but the New York Times believes their form will decline.

The beginning of the season is the peak, but as the season progresses, fatigue accumulates, and the season will decline.

When the playoffs arrived, he was in his worst form.

It's not as good as last season, when they started off terrible, gradually improved in the middle of the season, and reached their peak in the playoffs, just in time to compete for the championship.

Now it's completely reversed.

Therefore, the New York Times hopes that New York fans will not be too optimistic and will not think that they are invincible and have the championship in the bag just because they crushed the Magic in three quarters.

He also urged the Knicks management to face reality.

Just like Carlyle.

They were so arrogant yesterday. If you didn't know better, you'd think Larry Bird was sitting on the stage.

In yesterday's match, Carlisle pretended to be dead the entire time.

Last year, you were like this, wanting to call every timeout and devise a tactic for every offensive possession.

We cannot afford to become complacent because of the team's apparent strength.

Arrogance and carelessness are not to be tolerated.

After the team's resounding victory over a strong opponent, the last local media outlet to jump out and voice dissent was the Orlando Sentinel.

Their views also influenced other media outlets in New York.

11 month 1 number.

When the Knicks played the Spurs on the road, a reporter from the New York Post kindly reminded Carlisle at the entrance to the visiting team's locker room.

Don't assume that players like Wallace are reliable and deserving of heavy use just because they've performed well.

If you're going to use someone, you still have to use Yao Ming.

Yao Ming is the true star, the only one who can consistently perform well.

This was also an angle that the Post found itself, influenced by the New York Times report.

They believe that players like Chandler and Wallace are still too inexperienced and shouldn't be given more responsibility just because they played well in one game.

Look at Yao Ming, how many points did he score in the last game?
In crucial moments, star players are still the most reliable.

Carlisle rolled his eyes quickly, not even wanting to reply.

He wanted to remind the reporters present that they should go back and look up their files.

Wallace, Bender, are they too young?
Did they play in the league for longer than Yao Ming?

Yao Ming is the real rookie, okay?

Carlisle raised his hand to stop the reporter from speaking further, saying, "Don't worry, we will win."

Winning is all that matters.

I'm a professional, don't I know better than you?

His flippant tone was incredibly unpleasant to the New York reporter.

Do you know how much we've worried about you?

And look at you, you just won a big magic game, and now you're refusing to listen to anything I say?
They've gotten carried away, absolutely carried away!

Carlisle didn't give them a chance to speak again, waved his hand, and walked into the locker room.

Then they started chasing away the reporters.

Yao Ming was surrounded by many Chinese reporters.

Su Qun was also present, and before leaving, he reminded Yao Ming to remember what he had said.

Yao Ming frowned slightly.

Just now, Su Qun subtly reminded me to pay attention to the data, saying that I was still on a rookie contract and needed to find a way to get good data in order to pursue a big contract.

Yao Ming isn't stupid; he knows what Su Qun is trying to say.

He probably felt that he didn't take enough shots in the first game, letting his teammates do all the work.

Last year, the team still had Allan Houston, a veteran player, so it's understandable to respect him and take fewer shots.

Now that Houston is gone, the team's leader is his own, so how can he not have leader-level statistics?

Su Qun pointed out that Americans are different from us; they care about this data.

It's not surprising that some people would manipulate data to become the top dog.

Yao Ming glanced at his teammates on the court, especially Wade on his left.

He sat in the seat of service to the eldest brother.

Should I also have to be like other NBA players and have Wade carry my bag?
Although this is the usual practice, Yao Ming still felt awkward.

I didn't carry Houston's bags last year either.

And is being the boss just about looking at the data?

In crucial moments, who can provide support, who can score the goals that their teammates can't, and who can decide the outcome of the game—that's what makes a leader.

As for Su Qun's concern about not being able to sign a big contract, Yao Ming didn't take it to heart at all.

With Nike signing contracts worth hundreds of millions, Yao Ming feels he can retire now.

Moreover, even if you need data, you can make a fuss about it in other ways.

For example, assists.

Before the season, Carlisle had talked to himself, wanting to lead his teammates more and make full use of his playmaking and passing abilities.

Scoring 30 points per game doesn't seem too difficult.

But averaging 10 assists per game and getting a triple-double per game is difficult.

Scoring is easy, and you can grab rebounds yourself.

But assists depend on teammates.

It's perfect that I have such an amazing group of teammates; I might not be able to find them again in the future.

Yao Ming also saw it very clearly: the Knicks' roster like this wouldn't last more than a few seasons.

You can win the scoring title later, but getting over 10 assists and averaging a triple-double is something you can't just win whenever you want.

A center averaging a triple-double seems pretty impressive.

Yao Ming's mind was in turmoil. Thinking of this, he patted Wade on the shoulder and said, "Dwyane, score more points this game, and I'll pass you the ball."

The Spurs' long-standing problem is their inability to defend their backcourt, so Wade has a chance to score a lot of points.

Wade quickly took off his headphones, nodded, and said thank you.

Then I secretly pondered the meaning behind Yao Ming's words.

Is he upset that he was being too flamboyant and overshadowing him, and is he trying to put himself down?
Looking back at the first game, my arrogant celebrations after breaking through and scoring were a bit too flamboyant.

Without time to think, Carlisle had already begun to devise tactics for the match.

In other words, no arrangements were made.

Carlisle simply announced the starting lineup and then reminded everyone to play seriously.

The opponent was, after all, the Spurs.

Not far away, Tang Sen, who was standing with Tedes Station, silently shook his head.

He's gotten cocky, that old bastard's definitely gotten cocky.

If this were last year, he would have had to plan his tactics a week in advance when playing against the Spurs.

Now, they don't even need the twin-tower lineup they used against the Spurs last year; they're still starting Bender.

Tedeschi shook his head and then whispered to Tang Sen, "Tang, if the head coach can reach Rick's level, I think you can too."

Why bother with tactics? Just train the players and assemble a starting lineup of five star players.

Therefore, there is absolutely no problem with Tang Sen becoming the head coach.

"Pull it down."

Tang Sen shook his head decisively. What kind of good job could a head coach be?

With so much pressure, just look how much Carlisle's hairline has receded a year later.

Whether he floated away or not, Carlyle himself knows.

In the last game, I tried to pull off a show like Bird, and it felt great.

But deep down, Carlyle wasn't that kind of person.

He's still the same guy who, back in his days with the Nets, could patiently watch five years' worth of his own game videos in one go, even in a cramped office.

Carlisle didn't get carried away; on the contrary, he remained very clear-headed.

By not playing with twin towers and not devising any specific tactics, Carlisle was actually testing whether the Knicks' star-studded style of play could last and what level it could reach.

In the last game, they crushed the Magic in three quarters, winning by a whopping 39 points.

To be honest, Carlisle was also confused.

Like the New York Times, they developed self-doubt.

Doubts are just a sign of the team's superhuman performance.

So we have to keep trying and see just how strong the Knicks really are.

As the head coach, Carlisle had no idea how strong his team was.

He sat in his chair, silently observing the Spurs.

This summer, the Spurs haven't been idle; they've been working hard to process the pain of David Robinson's retirement.

To strengthen their interior, they made a rare splurge, acquiring Slovenian center Rasú Nesterovic from the Wolves with a six-year, $42 million "big contract".

They then managed to acquire Turkish player Sikhan Turkoglu to bolster their outside firepower.

They even brought in Horry.

Horry originally wanted to stay with the team, but after Malone joined, the Lakers didn't want him anymore and couldn't offer Horry the contract he wanted.

Anyway, the Spurs made quite a stir, creating quite a buzz.

With the rapid growth of Parker and Ginobili, and the retention of key players like Stephen Jackson, Carlisle believes the Spurs are stronger than last year.

Without time to think, the game began, and Billups took the ball and went one-on-one against Parker.

That's right, it's one-on-one play with the ball.

Carlisle awkwardly touched his chin.

Last year, Billups was all about team victory, but now he's starting to pursue statistics and play like a superstar.

Billups has always been considered a heavyweight point guard; he can use his body to bully many people.

For example, Parker, who is thinner and shorter than him.

He throws the ball up and down the court, then takes a short step back diagonally, pulls it up, and shoots directly.

The rhythm was perfect, and the movements were smooth and coordinated.

Tang Sen had long noticed that Billups liked to force three-pointers.

This summer, Tang Sen added some changes to his hard-earned three-point shooting.

Just like now, a confrontation followed by a simple step-back is enough to create space for a shot.

Parker's defense has never been good; he reached out and watched the basketball go through the net.

Carlisle touched his chin again.

One point guard, instead of focusing on his duties and organizing the offense, went straight for the attack.

But he got in, so what can you say?
(End of this chapter)