Champion, please stay!

Chapter 112, Section 110: The Future Has Not Yet Arrived.

The Grizzlies' passion and momentum originated from Rose, and will ultimately be defined by Rose.

His defeat in the one-on-one match against Yi Shui caused the Grizzlies' previously high morale to plummet.

In the next few possessions, the Knicks went on an 11-4 run, extending their lead to 94-82 and pushing it to double digits!
Although Rose tried again to narrow the gap, the Knicks' offense remained fierce, giving the Grizzlies no chance to regain momentum.

Commentators from CNN and ESPN analyzed that if Rose had focused on driving and distributing the ball to organize the offense at the start of the second half, instead of going head-to-head with Yi Shui, even if avoiding a direct confrontation might have affected morale, it wouldn't have led to a collapse, and they could have found a better opportunity to launch a counterattack.

In a one-on-one match, no one thought Rose would be a match for Yi Shui.

Regarding Rose's choice, CNN, being a Knicks team insider, naturally offered various criticisms of Rose while praising Yi Shui to the skies.

On the ESPN side, Mark Jackson, who was paid to commentate, also favored the Knicks throughout the night, which was quite different from the usual ESPN commentators.

But instead of criticizing Rose, he said, "I think no matter how many times Rose is given the choice, he will try to beat Brook at that point."

The reason he was able to become the leader of the Grizzlies so quickly is not because of how many opponents he defeated. He didn't win many games in the preseason or regular season, and he never had the upper hand against superstars.

Instead, he always charged ahead of his teammates, never backing down no matter who he faced.

During his college years, he was able to lead the Tigers, who hadn't won the Conference League championship in over 20 years, into the Final Four of Madness 3, thanks to this leadership quality.

Tonight was his best game since entering the NBA, but unfortunately, he encountered what is arguably the strongest rookie of the new century.

At the start of the fourth quarter, the Grizzlies managed to keep the score close at just over 10 points, but around the time of the official timeout, the Knicks launched another fierce attack, extending their lead to 20 points and extinguishing the Grizzlies' hopes of a comeback.

The last four minutes or so became garbage time, with Hollins replacing the starters and D'Antoni also substituting players like Yi Shui.

The match ended at 10:24 PM.

Tonight, the Grizzlies shot 45-for-91, a remarkable 49.4% field goal percentage.

罗斯19投11中，加上6中5的罚球，拿到生涯新高的27分外加3板6助攻。

盖伊23分10板、小加索尔12分6板3助攻、瓦里克14分4板2盖帽、康利13分4助攻、洛瑞9分2助攻……

Five players on the team scored in double figures, bringing their total to a season-high 117 points.

但对面尼克斯队93投50中，命中率高达53.7%！全队狂扔34次三分，进了19个！还有20中15的罚球！
易水打了35分钟，28投16中、其中三分球5中3，加上7中6的罚球，狂轰41分！第2次单场40+，外加7板6助攻1抢断3盖帽。

库里16中8，其中三分球11中6，加上2中2的罚球，生涯首次单场20+，24分2板7助攻1抢断。

加上斯威夫特的11分6板、大卫-李的15分9板2助攻、哈灵顿的11分4板2助攻、大Q11分、杜洪5分8助攻……

The Knicks defeated the Grizzlies 134-117 on the road!

As the final whistle blew, Yi Shui was preparing to celebrate this resounding victory with his teammates when he heard cheers from the fans in the stadium... naturally not for him, but for Rose.

Memphis fans seem to prefer calling Rose by his surname rather than his first name.

Is it because they're worried Rose's confidence might be damaged by the loss? Or is it just because Rose performed exceptionally well tonight?
After all, winning or losing is irrelevant to the Grizzlies right now; their strength is such that they would never make the playoffs in the Western Conference.

Regardless of the reason, Yi Shui felt that Rose was lucky. Although the city was small and nicknamed "countryside", the basketball atmosphere was really good, much better than Chicago.

Chicagoans are passionate about basketball, but only because of Michael Jordan.

When other star players play well and lead their teams to victory, they cheer. But when they fall behind, they wish the Bulls would trade them away, buy them out, or grant them a pardon. When Kobe said he wanted to go to the Bulls in the summer of 07, Chicago fans went wild. It was in that kind of city atmosphere that the Bulls management made the decision to go all in on the team.

In this respect, New York fans are no match for Bulls fans...

...

"It only took 7 games to achieve the fastest 40+5+5 in history..." — CNN.

“布鲁克成为史上最快拿到40+5+5的球员，但最年轻40+5+5纪录不可打破，19岁88天，King……”——克利夫兰老实人报。

"Rose shines; he possesses the strongest leadership ability among the new generation of players, but unfortunately, his teammates are not up to par." — ESPN. "Brook: Of course, my teammates are better. Every one of my teammates worked hard on the court to showcase their strengths, and the victory belonged to the whole team." — Los Angeles Times.

"..."

"..."

Looking at the speed of 93 again, the newly acquired training card, and all kinds of news praising him... Yi Shui: Sure enough, when it comes to playing a game, it's more enjoyable to play against an opponent like Rose who never gives up!
He scored another 40+ points and was so excited he couldn't sleep. Yi Shui then reviewed tonight's game.

I feel like Guy is wasting his talent... but that's just his personality, there's nothing I can do about it.

There's not much to review about the game itself; it was just that the defense was poor, and the Grizzlies, with their passion and drive, kept the game close for half the game. After breaking the Grizzlies' momentum, they gained the advantage.

But their offensive tactical adjustments are quite interesting – they have a rotation lineup where Harrington has the ball at the top of the key and he sets screens to initiate the offense… a familiar style of play.

How he and Little Magic Bird worked together in college!
Yi Shui recalled that in previous games, D'Antoni used Harrington in a way similar to Diaw back then, but that obviously overlapped with some of his functions, as well as some of David Lee's functions.

This resulted in their theoretically strongest trio struggling to coordinate in half-court sets, so D'Antoni simply stopped fielding them together.

In terms of run-and-gun offense, Harrington played for the Warriors for the past season and a half, so theoretically he would be a good fit.

While Don Nelson's classic run-and-gun offense and Mike D'Antoni's fast-paced style are similar in general, there is a fundamental difference: the former focuses on scoring from the perimeter, supplemented by cuts to the basket; the latter focuses on attacking from the wing, supplemented by perimeter support.

Harrington was instructed by Don Nelson to gain weight and play center during his time with the Warriors. At 26, he weighed 104 kg, and now at 28, he weighs 111 kg. His speed has declined significantly compared to when he played positions 1-4 with the Hawks and Pacers. In the fast-paced style of play, he lacks the impact to play positions 4 and 5, and he is not fast enough to play position 3.

Now, D'Antoni seems less fixated on Harrington's 'all-rounder' qualities and more selectively utilizes his comprehensive abilities based on actual needs.

Harrington's weight gain also brought some unexpected benefits—improved stability in mid-to-long-range shooting.

When he was thinner, Harrington's shooting consistency after contact was extremely poor, with a three-point shooting percentage of only 27% in the first 7 years of his career. However, after gaining weight in the 07-08 season, his three-point shooting percentage improved to over 35%, and he was no longer afraid of physical battles.

40+ points, a win, defeating Rose, and some encouraging changes—Yi Shui's mind wandered until past 3 a.m., almost seeing the night view of rural Memphis, before finally falling into a good sleep…

On the night of the 12th, the Knicks' wonderful start came to an end.

Playing back-to-back against the second-ranked Spurs in the West, the team lost 95-104 on the road, dropping their record to 6 wins and 2 losses. They lost their first-place ranking in the East and were overtaken by the 6-1 Cavaliers by half a game.

Tonight, Duncan seemed to have returned to his 21-year-old self, shooting 14-for-24 from the field and 5-for-8 from the free-throw line, racking up 33 points and 20 rebounds, tearing apart the Knicks' weak interior defense!
易水今晚在中距离大量出手，10投……3中，全场打了33分钟，21投9中，其中三分球5中2、近距离6中4。

Facing the defense of Roger Mason, Fenli, and Udoka, Yi Shui had a high success rate in long-range shooting and driving to the basket, but he didn't have many opportunities to shoot. The Spurs were too good at limiting three-pointers and shots under the basket.

As for last season's All-Defensive First Team player, Bowen... he has been relegated to the bench this season. It's not that Popovich has had a change of heart and stopped using him to annoy opponents, but rather that the 37-year-old Bowen's form has plummeted, and his performance in the preseason was extremely poor.

Another reason Popovich had to give up on Bowen was when Bowen tried to trip Kosta Koufos during a game against the Jazz, and the hot-tempered rookie elbowed him so hard he couldn't get up for a long time.

That elbow strike was quite vicious; if it had been raised a little higher and hit his neck, Bowen would probably be meeting his grandmother now.

Seeing that Koufos was only suspended for one game and would miss the opening game, the young players started to get restless. Unlike the older generation of players who cared about their image, they had all entered the NBA at the age of 19 or 20, and their tempers were all incredibly fiery...

Yi Shui was disappointed that Bowen sat on the sidelines the whole time he was there tonight, so he couldn't test the sharpness of his iron elbow.

However, tonight, he felt that the most difficult thing to deal with the Spurs was not Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili's drives to the basket, nor the Spurs' defense under the basket and beyond the three-point line, but the Spurs' consistency!

No matter how they ran or charged, no matter how many flaws their defense had, the Spurs played methodically and steadily.

The Spurs were stuck with a 10-point deficit, unable to pull away, but the Spurs were also unable to close the gap, and were completely dominated throughout the game.

"You lost to the Spurs. It's a pity. The future did not come true. Mission: The future has come, and it has failed."

Yi Shui looked at the mission failure message, and it seemed to be the first time... He had completed another mission, though.

"You completed 1 dunk and 1 block on Duncan during the game... Mission: Best Background Completed. Congratulations on receiving the reward: 20-hour Mid-Range Shooting Training Card."

(End of this chapter)