Champion, please stay!

Chapter 135, Section 133: The Lies That Begin to Be Exposed
The referee blew the whistle to stop the game.

Adelman had already stepped onto the field and was making a timeout gesture with his hand.

Although... well, we still have to call it that.

At this moment, the Rockets players were like deflated balloons. They had fought hard all game and finally managed to defend in the final moments, but they couldn't protect the rebounds!

Can you blame Yao Ming? He had already blocked the position even when he was taking on two opponents at once!

"The only one to blame is the guy who missed the shot while facing the defense and didn't stop Yi Shui from rushing in for a putback dunk..." Alston said aloud.

McGrady heard Alston's sarcastic remarks, muttered curses under his breath as he walked back to the bench, but did not refute them.

Yao Ming's teammates didn't blame him, but Yao Ming himself felt very guilty. If he had pushed harder and pushed the two opposing big men away a little, and taken a half step back, he wouldn't have been dunked on.

However, self-blame was secondary for Yao Ming at this moment.

As Yao Ming listened to the fans chanting "Emperor" in the arena, he looked up at the big screen, which was repeatedly replaying Yi Shui's putback dunk. He was stunned.

This season boasts four top dunkers, and with only a third of the season completed, they have already racked up over 50 dunks. Yi Shui is one of them.

截止12月23号，平安夜全联盟假期之前，霍华德91次扣篮排在第一、易水79次扣篮排在第二、詹姆斯59次扣篮排在第三、韦德51次扣篮排在第四……

Stoudemire has been among the top three in dunking since his sophomore year and is currently in his prime. With Nash passing him the ball, he shouldn't be falling behind. However, with a Shaq in the paint, he is forced to play half-court sets frequently and doesn't get much space in the paint. So far this season, he has only 33 dunks, less than half of what he did at the same time last season.

Yao Ming was on guard against Yi Shui all night. This guy is in the top ten plays almost every week, a lot of which are dunks. He has two dunks against the Cavaliers and is already a shoo-in for the top 100 of the season. Yao Ming didn't want to lose face in the highly anticipated 'Chinese draft derby'.

I never expected to get dunked on in the end! And it was a crucial putback dunk in the final seconds!

After the players from both teams composed themselves, they gathered around their respective coaches to listen to their instructions.

On the Knicks' side, D'Antoni gave Cheeks the power to make substitutions and the playboard. He didn't understand defense, but he had heard of Cheeks' defensive skills. In the month or so of working together, he had seen Cheeks' abilities, found him to be a good person, and got along well with him.

After the timeout, the Rockets used the same lineup, and Adelman had no choice but to stick with the same tactics, given the limited playing time.

The Knicks brought in a lineup of Duhon, Yi Shui, Wilson Chandler, Swift, and Birdman; these are the only players they can rely on for one-on-one defense.

The Rockets have possession in the frontcourt. Yao Ming inbounds the ball from out of bounds. Battier stands in the same corner on the same side. Artest sets a screen off the ball, and Alston and McGrady run to receive the inbound pass.

Compared to McGrady's proactive movement and use of screens to shake off Yi Shui, Alston was not proactive; he didn't even run to use screens when Artest called for him.

You can't blame the streetball king for this. He's just a role player who's barely above the mid-levels. It's normal that he didn't want to take responsibility when they were down by 4 points in the last few seconds.

When McGrady made a cut and received the ball after Artest's screen, the boos from the crowd suddenly intensified.

The fans were so busy cheering that when the timeout ended and the score, remaining time, and lineups of both teams were displayed on the big screen, the New York fans went wild.

Leading by 4 points with 8 seconds left, and facing Tracy McGrady... the image of Reggie Miller scoring 8 points in 8 seconds still lingers in the minds of New York fans.

When McGrady received the ball, turned around, and came to a step outside the three-point line, Yi Shui quickly bypassed Artest and caught up with McGrady, giving the fans a slight sigh of relief.

When McGrady jumped up, faced Yi Shui's block, and launched a fadeaway three-pointer, the fans' hearts were still in their throats as the ball flew past Yi Shui's fingertips.

At this point, McGrady's teammates, who had been complaining, were also looking forward to it... and soon their complaints deepened further.

The ball hit the rim and bounced out, but was caught by Swift who rushed back.

Swift caught the ball, and the Rockets players, who were preparing to commit a tactical foul after the shot went in, stopped.

Soon, the countdown ended, and the final whistle blew.

The Knicks narrowly defeated the Rockets 119-115 on Christmas Day!
This match, a back-and-forth battle with both teams constantly overtaking each other and going down to the final minute, thrilled the fans in attendance. Even after the whistle blew, they were still cheering wildly... because they won!
易水首节10分、第二节4分、第三节5分、末节17分，最后1分钟反超姚明拿下全场最高的36分，而且还命中了最后两记致胜进球！
The fans watching on TV were also excited. The score was 81-82 after the first three quarters, which the fans felt was already very high, mainly because the two teams scored 30+ points in the first quarter.

With both teams scoring around 25 points in the second and third quarters, fans expected the total score to reach 105+.

For New York fans, this prediction score is too low.

However, for the Rockets, scoring over 100 points is already considered high. In their first 27 games, they averaged 97.3 points, which is more than two points lower than the average. Correspondingly, their opponents scored even less, averaging 92.7 points per game, ranking third in the league in limiting opponents' scoring.

Unexpectedly, both teams rallied in the final quarter, even more impressively than the first quarter's 31-32 score, reaching a quarter score of 38-33! This was triggered by Yao Ming and Yi Shui's individual brilliance at the start of the final quarter, which then became unstoppable.

American cable commentators took the opportunity to advertise, saying that any game against the Knicks is bound to be exciting, and if your own team isn't playing, watching the Knicks is definitely the right choice, as every home game is broadcast live, and while the outcome is unpredictable, the game is sure to be entertaining.

The live stream briefly showed footage of the Knicks celebrating and McGrady walking quickly into the player tunnel with a towel over his head, ignoring reporters' attempts to stop him, before switching to interview footage.

Domestic fans saw CCTV's interview with Yi Shui. When asked about his feelings on winning the Christmas game, Yi Shui replied, "I just want to wish all the viewers a Merry Christmas with this victory. Christmas has already passed where we are, right? Well, consider this a belated blessing... I ate an apple last night."

Meanwhile, Yao Ming was also giving an interview at the same time, broadcast live on CNN Sports.

For Yi Shui, American Cable will definitely pamper him as much as possible, but for Yao Ming, who almost crushed the Knicks tonight...

A reporter asked, "Yao, you scored the most points for a long time tonight, but you missed the crucial shot at the end. Who do you think should be held responsible for this loss?"

The reporter intentionally steered the conversation towards Tracy McGrady's name, as McGrady and Yi Shui had very little time to compete tonight, only in the first and last two rounds. CNN wanted to amplify the "duel" between the two.

Despite McGrady's poor performance this season, he is still a superstar and a two-time scoring champion. It would be beneficial for the New York media to allow Yi Shui to rise to prominence by stepping on a superstar.

But Yao Ming only uttered one word: "Me."

...

On the 26th, Yi Shui didn't get up until almost noon.

He was busy until the early hours of the morning last night, and he almost saw the New York City skyline at 4 a.m.

Thinking about how he didn't even have time to go to Dolan's party last night because he stayed up all night to prepare for the live broadcast on CCTV, he felt a loss... no, he had saved up hundreds of millions of dollars, and even though he had been in New York for so long and had lost his fascination with female celebrities and socialites, he still felt like he had lost out.

However, thinking about how the elementary school students had to bring their girlfriends along for the interview last night, and let Ayesha, who has one-eighth Chinese ancestry, get some screen time, Yi Shui instantly felt better and could even laugh at the elementary school students.

He didn't have time to go; the elementary school students did have time, but the birds were already in their cages.

Yi Shui got out of bed and went to the bathroom to take a shower. Looking at the bruises all over his body, he realized that it was no wonder that LeBron James and Beast always had such a hard time playing against the Rockets.

He largely avoided physical contact by playing fast-paced, whirlwind style games, unlike James and Howard who could only rely on physical battles. However, he was still exhausted and only played 31 minutes. When the final buzzer sounded, he felt like he had played overtime.

He originally thought that playing against Artest would be the most difficult, but in reality, he felt that playing against Battier was more agonizing.

Artest is pure physicality, and you can't beat him on the perimeter. Yi Shui relies on speed to get inside and on his height and wingspan advantage to beat his opponents.

Battier, on the other hand, was always sticking close, constantly making small moves that continuously affected his mentality.

The clump of dead blood on Yi Shui's waist was from the president pinching him repeatedly. Even when the president elbowed him, he still pinched him until he became numb to it.

Fortunately, he has two days off after Christmas, so he can train in the afternoon. This minor injury will be fine after he wakes up tomorrow.

After taking a shower, Yi Shui browsed the news for a while.

Before yesterday's match, their Christmas game had the lowest level of attention, but after the match, the buzz was quite good, all thanks to their performance.

Of course, it still can't compare to the other two matches.

The Lakers' narrow 92-83 victory over the Celtics was the most talked-about game.

Garnett and Perkins limited Gasol to only 3 rebounds for the entire game. Bynum was good at rebounding when he was on the court, but he was doomed when facing the Celtics' frontcourt offense, forcing Kobe to go back and grab defensive rebounds, where he got a team-high 9 rebounds.

Kobe did a great job protecting the board on the defensive end, and he also dominated Pierce and Tony Allen on offense, scoring 27 points on 13-of-23 shooting, with 0 free throws, only 1 three-pointer, and a total of 10 mid-range shots.

The Yellow-Green rivalry plus the Christmas Day game already generated immense buzz, the level of competition was high, and the post-game hype only increased.

掘金队客战骑士队以105比98取胜，安东尼拿到全场最高的33分，力压拿到16分10板7助攻的詹姆斯。

Yi Shui observed that media outlets such as ESPN and NBC did not give this game much coverage, with the headlines all focusing on the Lakers-Celtics rivalry.

However, the New York and California media put Anthony's victory over James on the sidelines, while the Lakers-Celtics rivalry and the Chinese derby were only featured on the main page.

Yao Ming's use of the word "I" became a viral sensation after the game.

With players who entered the NBA in the 80s leaving the court and those who entered in the 90s also beginning to fade from the scene, there are fewer and fewer players who don't make excuses and dare to take responsibility.

Yao Ming usually takes a humorous and witty approach in interviews, but the image of him gritting his teeth and saying "I" showed fans a side of him that they had never seen before.

Yi Shui curiously opened a domestic website and took a look. On all the major sports portals, their game from last night was the top headline, which was not surprising.

Dolan seems to have started spending money to compete with Alexander, and a lot of news has emerged mocking the Rockets for calling themselves 'championship contenders'... He's too concerned about saving face and only sticks to the facts.

But that's enough; the lie has already been exposed.

Many media outlets, while praising Yao Ming's performance last night, also praised the Rockets' role players for their outstanding play and the Rockets' management for their "gold-digging ability," saying that the role players were even better and the team's chances of winning the championship had greatly increased... and then attributed the loss entirely to McGrady for missing the crucial shot.

This did not surprise Yi Shui.

However, among the Rockets' perimeter players, besides McGrady, who else dares to take crucial shots?

After watching the news for a while, Yi Shui opened the system and looked at the rewards he had received last night.

I'll save the 'Intensive Training Monthly Pass' for the off-season; I can't let it go to waste.

Another one is the 'Three Threats Offense Techniques Learning Method (McGrady Version)'.

Yi Shui has actually been using the three-threat strategy all along, but it's something he figured out on his own and it's not a systematic approach. He originally thought it could be used as a reference, since his playing style looks completely different from McGrady's.

But after receiving it, I discovered that it actually included learning methods for McGrady's "triple threat" techniques, such as the "breakthrough," the Z-step back, and the pull-up jumper.

(End of this chapter)