Champion, please stay!

Chapter 130, Section 128: The Early Stages End, the Christmas Battle Approaches (6000 words)
On December 10th, the Knicks visited the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., and defeated the Wizards 111-104 on the road.

易水打了31分钟，13投5中，其中三分球3中1，加上8中6的罚球，拿到17分5板7助攻1抢断2盖帽。

For the Knicks, this was just a typical shootout.

The opposing team had two near-All-Star level shooters, Caron Butler and Jamison, along with a group of cutting forwards, and two guards, Nick Young and Mike James, who were excellent at one-on-one offense. Their offense was decent.

The Knicks played with their season average offense and defeated their opponent.

For Yi Shui, he was double-teamed too much, his offensive rebounds were blocked, and his score was a bit low, but he still tied his second-highest single-game assist of the season with 7 assists, which was a decent performance.

But some media outlets and fans have lost their temper; they were still praising the Knicks' recent defensive transformation yesterday.

As a result, the Knicks conceded 104 points against the Wizards, a team that averages only 97 points per game and ranks 25th in offensive efficiency in the league.
After finishing my extra workout at the hotel gym that evening, marking my '7th day,' Yi Shui returned to her room and saw those heartbreaking comments while browsing the news, leaving her speechless.

Yesterday, he came across articles and posts praising their defensive "transformation," but he didn't even have the urge to create a new account to criticize them.

If he remembers correctly, on the two rest days after their three-game road trip, he saw some media mocking them, saying that no matter who they played against, they could make the opponent's overall offense explode and one of their star players play their best performance of the season.

The key point is that after playing the Cavaliers, they still allowed an average of 106.8 points per game. Even so, yesterday some media outlets and influential figures touted their 'defensive transformation,' and many people actually believed it!

...

After a winning start against four tanking teams, the Knicks traveled to Chicago the following night for a back-to-back game against the Bulls, where they lost 100-105, bringing their record down to 16 wins and 6 losses.

Yi Shui played for 39 minutes, shooting 9 of 24, including 2 of 6 three-pointers, plus 6 of 7 free throws, scoring 26 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 assists... He played very hard, and the stats looked okay, but he personally thought his actual performance was terrible.

Although several teammates, mainly shooters, were out of form due to back-to-back games, he believed that if he made two more three-pointers, or drove to the basket and scored two more baskets against Noah or Gooden, they could win.

However, the Bulls' roster is indeed quite good!

The starting lineup includes Hinrich, Ben Gordon, Luol Deng, Terrence Thomas, and Drew Gooden. Off the bench are Eric Gordon, Sefolosha, Joakim Noah, Larry Hughes, and Aaron Gray…

They also had an excellent start, winning 6 and losing 4 of their 10 games in the first two weeks.

Rookie Eric Gordon, coming off the bench, averaged 15.4 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 3.3 assists in his first 10 games; second-year player Noah, also coming off the bench, averaged 6 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 blocks in 20 minutes per game, showing great defensive and passing talent.

At that time, Yi Shui thought the Bulls would use Ben Gordon as trade bait to acquire a shooter or a strong forward, rebuilding around the talented Eric Gordon and Noah.

At the time, the media and fans outside of Chicago also thought so, and the round-faced James Harden was even bullied by his substitute Jordan Harden to the point of calling the police.

Eric Gordon performed exceptionally well, while Ben Gordon's playing time was drastically reduced, and his scoring dropped to a career low of 14.6 points, making him a pseudo-starter...

The Bulls did start shopping players, but no one expected that they would put Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon, Gooden, Terrence Thomas, Larry Hughes, Thabo Sefolosha... all on the trading block!
They only plan to keep Eric Gordon, Noah, and Luol Deng!
They want to continue tanking to get draft picks, and they want to 'trade zero for a whole'.

However, the success rate of exchanging small change for larger sums is too low. Not everyone has the connections that Ainge has, and can exchange a bunch of small change for Garnett and Ray Allen.

As revealed in the news, the Bulls wanted to trade for Conley, but the Grizzlies refused to take Hinrich and Ben Gordon, demanding Sefolosha and Luol Deng instead, which angered the Bulls' management so much that they hung up on Chris Wallace.

The Bulls players are also quite interesting. Their internal conflicts had already exploded, and being used as bargaining chips once again didn't affect them at all.

Although they dislike each other both on and off the court, and are constantly bickering and retaliating, they share the same goal on the court—to fight tooth and nail to win. A team wanting to tank for a high draft pick and rebuild? No way!

Wade, on the other hand, fought tooth and nail to put up an average of 31+6+7+2+1, and only after acquiring Conley did he manage to climb to ninth in the Eastern Conference, still failing to make the top eight.

Despite internal chaos, the Bulls' deep roster and years of on-court chemistry allowed them to improve their record to 12 wins and 11 losses after defeating the Knicks, moving them up to sixth in the Eastern Conference.

There was no time for Yi Shui to be upset about the loss. After suffering their sixth defeat of the season, they flew to Auburn Hills, Detroit, the following afternoon.

After a night's rest, on December 13th, the second back-to-back game of the five-day, four-game series will begin with an away game against the Pistons.

易水拿到16分10板6助攻3抢断3盖帽……还有6犯离场，尼克斯队以96比101告负。

On the 14th, the Knicks flew south to Atlanta at noon to face the Hawks in a back-to-back away game.

Despite losing the first two games, the Knicks managed to fight to the very end under Yi Shui's leadership.

If Yi Shui-mo hadn't been so aggressive in his defensive rotations against the Pistons, committing his sixth foul with five minutes left, they might have had a chance to turn the game around.

Tonight, the Knicks suffered their worst loss of the season so far.

With players like Bibby, Joe Johnson, Josh Smith, Marvin Williams, and Al Horford, the Hawks spent three years rebuilding, assembling a defensive powerhouse known as the 'Little Kings' through tanking, free agent signings, and trades.

The final score was 99 to 121. The game was already over after halftime, and the entire second half was garbage time.

垃圾时间，易水敢打敢拼，打出了5天4战最好的数据，27投13中，其中三分球9中3，加上6中6的罚球，拿到35分7板3助攻3抢断1盖帽。

Trailing by 26 points at halftime, 45-71, with the other players in a terrible state, D'Antoni naturally had to give Yi Shui a good workout, treating it as a real game training session.

After playing four games in five days, the Knicks stayed an extra night in Atlanta, enjoying the damp mountain breezes of the Appalachian Mountains and getting some rest before flying back to the Northeast on the afternoon of the 16th, where they faced the Nets on the 17th.

The Knicks players finally showed some improvement in this game, and the score was tied 105-105 in regulation time, forcing overtime.

Because the score was close in regulation time, and the opposing team had Devin Harris and Carter, it was difficult for them to gain a clear advantage. D'Antoni managed Yi Shui's playing time very well, playing 22 minutes in the first three quarters and 10 minutes in the final quarter.

In overtime, Yi Shui continued to perform well, shouldering the main offensive burden. He made 3 of 5 shots, including 1 of 1 three-pointers, and 2 of 2 free throws, scoring 9 points and leading the Knicks to a 12-6 score.

常规时间15投8中、加时赛5中3，易水全场打了37分钟，20投11中，其中三分球6中3，加上6中6的罚球，拿到31分8板4助攻1抢断2盖帽，率领尼克斯队通过加时赛以117比111击败篮网队，结束连败！

...

At noon on the 18th, Yi Shui returned to his apartment and hung up plaques of the Bulls, Pistons, and Hawks in his study.

In the future, it's highly likely that all the other teams' badges will be attached, but each additional badge will still feel uncomfortable, especially if three are attached at once.

胜率，也从月初打湖人队之前最高的14胜4负的77.7%，下滑到了现在的17胜8负的68%。

Their rankings were overtaken by the Magic and Hawks, dropping them to fifth in the Eastern Conference.

There's no room for them to drop any further. The sixth-placed Bulls have a record of 13 wins and 12 losses. Even if the Knicks go on another 8-day, 5-game stretch, they can still hold on.

The teams in the top five of the Eastern Conference and those below them have huge differences in their records, so it's likely to be another season where a 50% winning percentage isn't needed to make the playoffs.

After entering December, Yi Shui truly understood the strength of their own team and their own capabilities... With more strong opponents and a tighter schedule, they couldn't keep up.

He and his teammates tried their best on offense, and he personally wanted to shoot more and score more points, but they still couldn't beat them.

Despite their poor performance on the five-game road trip, with only two wins and three losses, when they arrived at New York airport, they were greeted by a large and enthusiastic crowd of fans, which made him and his teammates feel that their efforts so far this season had not been in vain.

Yi Shui initially thought that New York fans were difficult to please, and after spending more time with them, he realized that they really were difficult to please.

But people spend money to watch the games, buy merchandise, and spend money, time, and energy arguing with other fans... So what if they're a little difficult to please? As players, shouldn't they be winning and making the fans cheer?

After this series of visits, Yi Shui gained a better understanding of what he still lacked.

The team lacks mid-range shooting and physicality against the Pistons, and can't withstand the physical battles against a true inside player.
He lacked the ability and experience to help defend against the Hawks, and when facing an opponent like Josh Smith who possessed physical attributes, defensive awareness, and defensive aggressiveness, his scoring methods were lacking. After that game, he reviewed the game against the Cavaliers and said that if Ben Wallace and Zydrunas Ilgauskas were two years younger, their strategy would definitely not have worked well.

The game against the Bulls was actually not bad, it was just that their outside shooting was not in good form. Their forwards were attacking hard, but it didn't connect with their long-range shooting.

On the contrary, they had a really hard time playing against the Nets. They couldn't stop Harris's breakthroughs and Lopez's close-range isolation plays. Carter's catch-and-shoot long-range shots and Yi Jianlian's cuts to the basket were facilitated by the two of them.

The Nets have improved as the season has progressed, largely thanks to Harris, whose scoring average has soared to 22 points and 6 assists per game, playing at an All-Star level and inspiring Carter and Brook Lopez.

During this stretch of away games, Yishui also received some good news—after several days of testing by a professional team hired by Batelstein, the new house is now ready to be moved into.

However, he doesn't plan to move in yet; he'll wait until his parents come over next month for winter break.

The visas had already been taken care of by the agents in China, so the family didn't need to worry about it. After counting, there were six pendants. Yi Shui left the study to have lunch and then train!
After a grueling 8-day, 5-game road trip, the Knicks got two days of rest.

After a night's rest, the Knicks did not have a full training session on the 19th. They only had one offensive training session for tomorrow's opponent, the Bucks, and a short defensive coordination drill that Cheeks and Yi Shui requested. The rest of the training was on individual skills or basic techniques.

Yi Shui asked Dan D'Antoni for the reason, and the answer he got was that Christmas was coming soon, everyone was tired, so the training volume naturally had to be reduced.

The head assistant coach also tactfully told him that not every teammate has the same recovery ability as him, and that he shouldn't be too harsh on his teammates. He also told him about some unpleasant experiences that Kobe, Jordan, and others had with their teammates in this regard.

Yi Shui once again experienced the benefits of having his intelligence questioned. He could ask anything, and the management and coaching staff would patiently explain. He could also get some gossip.

However, he didn't realize that the new season had already been going on for almost two months.

After finishing his extra training session in the evening, Yi Shui returned to his apartment and checked the news, only to see that the NBA had already begun promoting this year's Christmas Day games.

There are only 3 Christmas games this year.

The Lakers will host the Celtics in a showdown between last season's runner-up and champion.

With the Cavaliers hosting the Nuggets, some media outlets have already started speculating that LeBron James, who led his team to an Olympic gold medal and redeemed himself on the world stage, will replace Allen Iverson as the 'representative of Black players' in the upcoming game.

However, Iverson was traded away at the beginning of the season, and now the focus of the publicity has shifted to James vs. Anthony.

There's another game, one of the main protagonists is the Knicks, and their opponent is Yao Ming's Rockets.

When the schedule was first announced, the media joked that this Christmas battle was a "special edition for the Chinese market".

But Yi Shui and his teammates, through hard work and struggle, achieved a record that earned them face back, with a record of 17 wins and 8 losses, which is better than the Rockets' record of 16 wins and 9 losses, which is seventh in the Western Conference!
While browsing domestic portal websites, Yi Shui discovered something interesting—from the beginning of the season, all sorts of 'experts' have been trying to find fault with the Rockets, attributing it to bad luck and McGrady's numerous injuries.

During the Knicks' three-game losing streak, those experts and influential figures became even more vocal, saying that their good schedule was over and their luck wouldn't be so good anymore.

Because their record had been better than the Rockets' since the start of the regular season, and before the season began, domestic experts predicted that they might get the number one draft pick again.

On the contrary, American media predicted that they would rank around tenth in the East.

This situation also occurred last year with the Bucks and Yi Jianlian. Domestic experts seem very reluctant to see any other Chinese player's team perform better than the Rockets.

Yi Shui didn't understand this question when he was in college, but after entering the NBA, he learned more and understood it.

In the 07-08 season, the Rockets spent $1700 million on promotion, ranking fifth in the league. The top four were the Cavaliers, Knicks, Lakers, and Mavericks, which was $200 million more than the Trail Blazers.

Except when the Rockets drafted Yao Ming in 02, they didn't know if he could make it big, so they didn't spend money on publicity and even misappropriated the publicity funds provided by sponsors to renovate their own arena. From the summer of 03 onwards, the Rockets' media publicity expenses never fell below 1000 million.

At first, Yi Shui was puzzled. With that kind of money, why didn't they sign Nash in 04 when they could have signed him outright? Putting aside whether he was a good fit, he was an All-Star in his prime! A third-team player!

Later I realized that the Rockets had already signed McGrady, which satisfied the Chinese fans' demand for an 'outside superstar'. Adding another All-Star would only increase their wins by a few games, and their role player roster wouldn't be enough to advance further in the playoffs. But using the multi-million dollar salary they gave Nash to buy articles would bring them real profits.

Unlike other teams that primarily spend their advertising budget on the US domestic market, the Rockets spend almost nothing on advertising in the US, instead dedicating all their money to the Chinese market…

Yi Shui heard from Bartelstein that Dolan was also continuously increasing his investment in the Chinese market, but the effect of the money spent was really not as good as that of the Rockets.

The main reason is that although Dolan is a playboy, he still has a sense of shame. The Rockets barely made the playoffs in the 03-04 season with a record of 45 wins and 37 losses, yet they dared to promote themselves as 'championship contenders' domestically. Dolan would never do something like that.

Yi Shui was thankful that his boss was a man of honor; otherwise, he would have felt ashamed even if he returned to China...

...

After a two-day rest, the Knicks hosted the Bucks on the 20th.

Yi Shui was very excited before the game, Reed was going to play tonight!
At the Olympics, Reed's accurate shooting, superb mid-range face-up offense, and beautiful low-post back-to-the-basket offense left a deep impression on him.

But when the match started, Yi Shui was dumbfounded.

What happened to Reed after four months?
He couldn't run, he couldn't jump, and his shooting was off. He played for 26 minutes, making only 5 of 14 shots. His three-pointers were completely shut down by Du Hong, and he only managed 12 points and 2 assists on 2 of 2 free throws.

The Bucks with Reed are not playing as well as the Bucks without Reed when Yi Shui last played against them!

This could not possibly be the result of the Knicks' double-teaming.

Their defensive intensity is sufficient, but their ability is lacking. They can only effectively defend against superstars with obvious flaws, or those who are so stubborn that they try to shoot even after being double-teamed by three or four players and only managing 7 of 23 shots. They cannot effectively defend against other superstars.

Richard Jefferson capitalized on the Knicks' focus on Reed and Villanueva, relentlessly driving to the basket and scoring a game-high 33 points, but it wasn't enough to fill the hole Reed had dug for him.

易水打了30分钟，13投7中，其中三分球4中2，加上5中4的罚球，高效拿到20分7板5助攻1抢断2盖帽，第四节打了两分钟得分上20后就被换下了。

The Knicks easily defeated the Bucks 112-97.

After the match, Yi Shui made a special effort to check on Reed's injury. He had heard that Reed was injured before, but since Lianmei was no longer on the team, he hadn't really paid attention to it.

It was only after checking that I found out that Reed injured his left ankle during the Olympics, but he managed to finish the Olympics. When he arrived at training camp, he injured his right knee. The media speculated that after the injury to his left foot, Reed put more pressure on his right leg. After returning to play in the opening game of the regular season, he injured his left ankle again... and he returned to play almost immediately after recovering from each injury.

Yi Shui felt that Reed didn't need to push himself so hard. When it comes to injuries, he should wait until he's fully recovered before playing. Normal people wouldn't blame him. Not everyone is as unconventional as Steve Kerr.

But then he thought about what he would do if he were injured and the team was plagued by injuries and their record was collapsing.
The conclusion he reached was that, fortunately, he had exploited a bug: the repair effect on the '7th day' meant that minor injuries from bumps and bruises could be repaired with a good night's sleep after meeting the training requirements.

Many injuries are caused by fatigue, and some are caused by congenital defects. In basketball, the incidence of accidental injuries is relatively low compared to other sports that require physical contact.

On the 22nd, the Knicks hosted the Wizards.

Arenas actually played tonight!
Because I saw Reed's poor condition of continuous injuries and constant stoppages the day before yesterday, I checked Arenas's situation this morning and it's even worse than Reed's.

Reed at least played 10 games in the early part of the season, while Arenas has played less than a handful of games this season!
Maybe it's because they're going to play in a basketball mecca? Is there a live stream?
Yi Shui recalls that the Wizards, Raptors, and Timberwolves were all on the same table for the nationally televised games. There were only 3-4 games scheduled for televised broadcast before the season started, which is less than the Nets' 6 games.

However, Wizards' new head coach Tapscott didn't give Arenas much playing time; he started the game, played for a short while, and was then substituted out and never played again.

Tonight, the Wizards' offensive firepower comes from Nick Young!
Yi Shui and Nick Young engaged in a one-on-one battle.

The two weren't actually matched up; they were each playing their own game.

尼克-杨胖揍库里、大Q，25投13中，其中三分球7中2，加上4中3的罚球，狂轰31分2板0助攻。

This is utterly depraved and insane!

But this style of play also has its advantages: zero turnovers, unlike Yi Shui, who had four assists and three turnovers.

Although he didn't control his mistakes as well as Nick Young, Yi Shui won by scoring a lot of points!
面对卡隆-巴特勒、贾米森两人轮流防守，易水20投13中，三分球3投全中，加上5中5的罚球，狂轰34分，外加7板4助攻2抢断1盖帽！

The result was no surprise; the Knicks won 114-103.

When Jamison stood in front of Yi Shui to defend against a one-on-one, the commentators on the American cable network said that the Wizards never intended to win and wanted to tank during Arenas' season while he was recovering from injury.

After two consecutive games, the Knicks got two days of rest. The coaching staff did not arrange any training during these two days, so it was a real holiday.

Preparations for the Christmas battle were all carried out on the same day.

Yi Shui originally wanted to spend two days alone.

After the game against the Wizards, he saw the media doing their 'preliminary summary'. His performance of 27.6 points, 8 rebounds, 4.8 assists, and 2.1 three-pointers made per game was repeatedly mentioned, and the team's record of 19 wins and 8 losses was described as a 'comeback'... This summary felt very familiar to him.

With two precious days off, Yi Shui wanted to temporarily escape the hustle and bustle and reflect on herself... which was just being sentimental.

But when he called to invite his college coach and close teammates to watch the Christmas Day game, his two best friends, who weren't going home for Chinese New Year this year, asked him to come to a party, and he happily went...

(End of this chapter)