Champion, please stay!

Chapter 143, Section 141: The Battle for the Top Vote
"What? I'm only this tall..."

Yao Ming walked forward, spread his arms, and gestured to Yi Shui... Little Giant: (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻

He is 226 cm tall barefoot and has a wingspan of 225 cm, which is about right. However, his wingspan is probably four or five centimeters shorter than Yi Shui's!

This little incident made the Yishui family feel much more relaxed.

After all, Yi Shui's grandparents and maternal grandparents all saw Yao Ming on TV. Although their own grandson is also a big star and they often see him on TV, it's not the same.

Dinner was very enjoyable. Yao Ming and his wife, as well as Yao's parents who had just returned from Yao's restaurant, were all very welcoming. Moreover, Jiashan is adjacent to Shanghai, and the dialects are similar, so the four elderly people were able to chat smoothly...

The next morning, Yi Shui arrived at the Toyota Center with the team and received a call from Yao Ming, who said Alexander had given him a free private box.

He was quite happy that the other party's boss gave him face, but he was also somewhat disappointed.

He certainly doesn't have the same strength as the peak Great White Shark from seven or eight years ago, but he still wants to challenge himself a bit, just in case he suddenly gets going.
Unsurprisingly, at noon, Yi Shui saw the news that the Rockets were providing a free private box to Yi Di's family, which made him furious.

In the evening, Yi Shui and his teammates entered the court to face Yao Ming in their second 'Chinese Top Draft Pick Derby' of the season.

The match was broadcast live by three television stations: CCTV Sports, CNN, and TNT Sports.

Although the Knicks defeated the Rockets in the Christmas Day game, the entire team is not taking any chances.

That game had a lot of luck involved. Their role players were able to maintain a decent shooting percentage and keep the score close even when the pace was forced to increase. If it happened again, they couldn't guarantee they could perform like that.

Even with good luck, they still managed to fight to the decisive stage of the game.

In addition, their own recent form has been very volatile. A few days ago, they played against the Hornets, who had a slightly worse record than the Rockets with 22 wins and 15 losses, and they were hammered. In short, when facing an opponent like the Rockets with 25 wins and 15 losses, who can even go 50 wins in the Western Conference, their mentality on the court is to go out and fight. If they win, the boss will treat them to a young model; if they lose, they'll go back to New York and find a young model.

But unexpectedly, this time the luck was even better than when they played at home!
The Rockets played a very good defense tonight. Yao Ming and Artest partnered in the paint, and the three outside shooters were very active. The Knicks only scored 25 points in the first quarter and only 23 points in the second quarter, but the Rockets only scored 18 points in the first quarter and 22 points in the second quarter.

The Knicks only scored 48 points in the first half, but still managed to build a lead of 8 points!
After halftime, the Knicks played with even more energy in the second half, leading 50-47 at halftime and dominating the Rockets on the road for the entire game!

Yi Shui made 9 of 18 shots. Although his three-point shooting was tightly marked and he only took one shot which didn't go in, his overall shooting performance was very good. He made good long two-pointers and fast break drives to the basket. In addition, he made 6 of 7 free throws, and scored 24 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and 1 block.

Yao Ming played 30 minutes tonight, but not for long in the final quarter. Adelman saw that there was no hope of winning, so he didn't let Yao Ming play in the last half of the quarter.

With 8 of 15 field goals and 6 of 6 free throws, Yao Ming scored 20 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 blocks. His performance was as good as ever. Despite his own perimeter shooting being incredibly poor and the opponent's mindless collapsing and double-teaming, he still managed to shoot over 5% from the field.

But the team couldn't stop themselves from making only 5 of 25 three-pointers!

阿泰斯特6中1、阿尔斯通5中0、麦迪7中1……越投越铁、越铁越投。

McGrady was incredibly frustrated tonight, even more so than in the last loss. In previous years, when Yao Ming delivered a performance like this, McGrady was the one who stepped up and led the team to victory. But this time, all he felt was helplessness…

What drove him crazy was that during the few possessions he defended against Yi Shui, this rookie draft pick actually used similar moves to his own to drive and fake a drive to the basket for a long two-pointer!

Moreover, this guy 'modified' his breakthrough. When he twisted his waist and stepped forward to block and rush in, he didn't use his agility and explosive acceleration. Instead, he just shoved him away. There was no beauty in it at all. All he did was hateful violence!
The Knicks easily defeated the Rockets 98-87 on the road!

Yi Shui felt great after dominating the opponent for the entire match. He heard that hundreds of millions of people in China watched the live broadcast of the match on TV.

It's this away game, there's absolutely no atmosphere. They score goals, the opposing team scores goals, and we don't react much.

Behind the technical desk, there was another group of people who stood out. Everyone around them was like dead fish, but that group kept cheering and booing.

Rumor has it that the Rockets gave away tickets to local die-hard fans to boost the home crowd, and surprisingly, this outrageous thing is actually true!

...

After playing the Rockets, the Knicks returned to New York. The next eight games will consist of six home games and two away games. Although the schedule is still tight, at least the number of times they have to travel between away games has decreased.

Yi Shui and his family returned to New York on their boss's private jet. While browsing the news, they felt the overwhelming enthusiasm of New York fans.

This is rare. He learned from Yao Ming that after Christmas, not only are the players fatigued and their enthusiasm for playing has been worn down, but the fans are the same. It is not until the NFL season ends and the All-Star Weekend stimulates the fans' emotions again.

Recently, when he looked at other teams' dedicated sections and forums, he noticed that the post update frequency was much slower than at the beginning of the season.

Only a few teams haven't seen a significant drop in popularity: the Lakers, Cavaliers, Grizzlies... and the Knicks!
And the buzz here in New York is actually getting stronger!
He only understood the reason after seeing a comparison post from a seemingly professional fan.

Currently, they have completed exactly half of the regular season, with a record of 28 wins and 13 losses, which is their best performance in the last 9 seasons!
The last time they had a better record was in the 99-00 season, when they had a record of 29 wins and 12 losses in the first 41 games and finished with a record of 50 wins and 32 losses. After that, their record began to decline.

Especially after Thomas became the team's general manager in 2003, they did not have a season with a winning percentage close to 50% in the past five seasons. During Thomas's tenure, the only season they made it to the playoffs was the 2003-04 season, with a record of 39 wins and 43 losses. It was only when Stephon Marbury, who had just been traded, had a breakout performance at the end of the season and led the team to a six-game winning streak that squeezed the Cavaliers, who had a record of 35 wins and 47 losses, out of the playoffs.

The market enthusiasm has been reflected in the players' performance.

The following day, January 22nd at 9 AM, the NBA officially announced the results of the second round of voting for All-Star starters.

从1月10号到19号这10天时间，易水拿到了110万票，联盟第一！比霍华德的103万票还要高！
Although Yi Shui was still trailing Howard by 207 million votes to 209 million in total votes, even the TV host believed that Yi Shui had surpassed Howard as the second round of votes was announced. At lunchtime, Yi Shui saw the news that Yao Ming's team, Reebok, and the Rockets all seemed to be ramping up their efforts to campaign for Yao Ming.

Currently, the NBA All-Star voting record is held by Yao Ming, with 255 million votes set in the 04-05 season, which will definitely be broken this year.

However, he's also making an impact on his image. After returning to New York yesterday afternoon, he gave an exclusive interview to Sports Illustrated and took a series of photos, becoming the first player from the 08 draft class to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated during the season.

Cover title: "Rising Star Vote King? Why Not!"

Yi Shui learned from Bartelstein that Hook had changed all the posters in his flagship stores to campaign for him.

Howard is with Adidas, Yao Ming is with Reebok, and he's with Nike...

He checked the vote leaders from the past few years: in the first five years of the century, Carter was the vote leader four times and Kobe once, both under Nike and Adidas respectively; Yao Ming was the vote leader in 2005 and 2006, under Reebok; James became the vote leader for the first time in 2007, under Nike; Garnett in 2008, under Adidas…

The battle for the top vote-getter among players is also a battle for the top vote-getter among brands.

...

After a two-day break, the Knicks will host the Pacers at 5 p.m. on the 23rd.

This time, the Pacers didn't let themselves be led by the nose like last time, but focused on their own rhythm... This was also related to Ford's injury. Although Jack's ability is not as good as Ford's, his playing style is more stable.

Both teams were on fire, and the score was tied at 119-119 in regulation time, forcing overtime.

However, in overtime, the Pacers' offense went downhill. It wasn't just a decline; they took 7 shots but didn't score a single point and committed two turnovers!

The Knicks also performed poorly in overtime, making only 1 of 8 shots. Only Nate Robinson, who came off the bench, scored on a fast break, and Yi Shuichong grabbed an offensive rebound and drew a foul, making both free throws. They only scored 4 points, but that was enough.

The Knicks narrowly defeated the Pacers 123-119.

Yi Shui missed all three of his shots in overtime, scoring only two points from free throws. However, he played very well in the 32 minutes he played in regulation time, shooting 9 of 16. He played a total of 37 minutes, shooting 9 of 19, including 2 of 4 three-pointers, plus 7 of 8 free throws, for a total of 27 points, 7 rebounds and 10 assists. This was his third time scoring in double figures in assists this season!
Unfortunately, both teams shot too accurately in regulation time, and he also had to lead the charge to speed things up. Including overtime, he only managed to get 3 offensive rebounds and 4 defensive rebounds.

At 8 p.m. on the 24th, the Knicks will host the Magic in a back-to-back game at home.

Tonight, Yi Shui took a crazy 31 shots, the second time in his career he's taken so many. The last time was the night he scored 50 points, when he took 34 shots.

In 40 minutes of playing time, he couldn't care less about defense and just focused on attacking, making 15 of 31 shots, including 3 of 9 three-pointers, plus 9 of 9 free throws, scoring a whopping 42 points and 9 rebounds.

But they still couldn't withstand the Magic's barrage of three-pointers.

特科格鲁20投11中、其中三分球12中7，加上3中3的罚球，拿到32分12助攻。

刘易斯三分9中5、尼尔森三分5中3……魔术队全队三分33中20！

Nelson's drives, Beast's cuts and steals compressed the Knicks' defense, Hedo Turkoglu's high post play disrupted the Knicks' poor defense, creating open looks everywhere.

Howard only scored 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting. While cutting to the basket for a layup, he was blocked twice by Yi Shui, who was holding onto the rim. His shooting percentage was less than 50% by the Knicks, but he still grabbed 21 rebounds, including 11 offensive rebounds, leaving the Knicks helpless.

Beast truly single-handedly propelled the Magic into the ranks of 'rebounding powerhouses', even with teammates like Turkoglu and Lewis who didn't enjoy playing in the paint.

The Knicks' fast-paced offense couldn't withstand the Magic's barrage of three-pointers, ending their four-game winning streak and bringing their record to 29 wins and 14 losses.

...

Yi Shui was somewhat disappointed that he couldn't achieve 30 wins before the Lunar New Year. However, after the game, he put the outcome aside and took his family and two younger brothers to the southernmost part of Manhattan Island, where New York's Chinatown is located.

In the US, tomorrow is Lunar New Year's Eve, but in China, it's already almost noon on Lunar New Year's Eve.

Yi Shui had already arranged for Batelstein to contact the city hall. After his family arrived, the people he hired received the message and started lighting fireworks.

Brilliant fireworks burst in the sky, reflected on the river, creating a spectacular scene.

The next day, the 25th, Lunar New Year's Eve, in the morning, Yi Shui's family gathered around the TV to watch the Spring Festival Gala live. In the evening, his parents, grandfather, and maternal grandmother, all of whom were good cooks, cooked a traditional New Year's Eve dinner using dried goods brought from China and ingredients bought in Chinatown.

In both lifetimes, Yi Shui hadn't felt the spirit of Chinese New Year for a long time, but this year he finally did.

On the morning of the second day of the Lunar New Year, Yi Shui received lucky money. It wasn't much, but he was very happy...

But warm and loving times always pass quickly. After the New Year, the family members prepared to go back home, and they would still be visiting relatives in China.

On the morning of the 27th, Yi Shui saw off his family at the airport and then immediately returned to Madison Square Garden to prepare for the match.

After playing back-to-back games and resting for two days, having a good New Year, another tight schedule is coming!

(End of this chapter)