Champion, please stay!

Chapter 144, page 142: The strongest draft year in a decade?
At 8 p.m., the Knicks will host the Suns.

As expected, the two teams immediately went head-to-head, with the Knicks employing a fast-paced offense and the Suns showcasing their individual play and passing skills, making for a very intense game.

首节尼克斯队31比28领先太阳队3分，第二节太阳队以33比28反超两分，半场打完，太阳队以61比59领先。

In the third quarter, the Knicks' score rebounded to 30 points, but the Suns took off, scoring 35 points.

Although the Knicks rallied in the final quarter with a 31-28 run, they ran out of time, and the game ended before the score was reduced to within 5 points.

今晚易水打了36分钟，拿到25分9板7助攻，大卫-李20分14板、杜洪21分4板6助攻，三人20+，表现不可谓不好。

But Nash on the other side made 4 of 6 shots, including 3 of 3 three-pointers, plus 2 of 2 free throws. When he was in such a good shooting touch but taking so few shots, there was only one reason: his assists took off. He had 13 points and 17 assists in a single game!

希尔21分、贾森-理查德森22分、巴博萨21分，在尼克斯队疯狂收缩，奥尼尔只有9分14板、斯塔德迈尔只有14分5板的情况下，纳什奶出了3个20+的角色球员！
The Knicks suffered a narrow 120-124 defeat at home to the Suns.

At a crucial stage in the All-Star voting race, Yi Shui suffered two consecutive losses, one of which was against his direct rival, the Orlando Magic led by Dwight Howard. Yi Shui felt that things were really going badly for him.

He scored his fourth 30+ point game of the season against the Magic, and his first 40+ point game since Christmas, only to be met with a barrage of three-pointers from the Magic.

He, David Lee, and Duhon had a blast tonight, leading the team to a 120-point performance, only to be met with an explosion of shooting from the Suns' shooters...

He thought his chances of becoming the top vote-getter in his rookie season were slim, but the public opinion he saw after the game was quite different from what he expected.

The prevailing view is that Yi Jianlian did his best.

Some people hyped up the idea that he scored 40+ points but lost the game, implying he was padding his stats, but it didn't make much of a splash and instead got them criticized – "Let your star player score 40 points in his rookie year and see what happens."
Yi Shui browsed the news for a while and found three reasons for this public opinion situation.

Dolan, the hook, and the agent have definitely put in the effort; the formula is there, anyone can copy it.

He's just a rookie, and it's like he's wearing a golden armor.

Another very important reason is that on the 25th, the Magic lost to the Suns at home, and on the 23rd, the Magic lost to the Rockets on the road.

When the second round of votes was announced, Yao Ming had overtaken Kobe Bryant to become the top vote-getter in the Western Conference and ranked third overall.

Yi Shui defeated Yao Ming, Yao Ming defeated Howard, Howard defeated Yi Shui... and the loop was closed.

...

After taking a nap, Yi Shui put the previous defeat aside. Losing by four points was indeed unacceptable, but the past could not be undone, so he looked ahead.

After washing up and having breakfast, Yi Shui went to Madison Square Garden for extra practice. The team's training session was scheduled for 1 p.m., but he had something he wanted to practice in the morning—mid-range shots from the two wing corners and three-pointers from the two wing corners.

“……远距离86（左侧底角82、左侧45度角87、顶弧85、右侧45度角89、右侧底角83），中距离79（左侧45度角78、正面86、右侧45度角79），近距离91。”

The regular season has been going on for three months. During this period, the thing he has improved the most is his technique and how he uses it.

My basic skills have improved to some extent, but the time was too tight, so it's impossible to achieve the same level of improvement as during the off-season or training camp.

He's been stuck at 89 for a long time, hitting three-pointers from the right 45-degree angle and long two-pointers, almost being overtaken by those from the left 45-degree angle. There's nothing he can do about it; he can only do a few sets each time he trains, keep training, and slowly wear it down.

His long-range shooting from the left 45-degree angle has improved the most since the start of the season, followed by the top arc. His long-range shooting from the entire high post has reached 85 or above, which is what he is most satisfied with after 20 months of hard training.

He's quite accurate at mid-range shots between the two wings at a 45-degree angle; he can at least make mid-range shots from the wings at a distance of 75+.

But recently he has encountered a problem - his opponents have started to consciously leave him open for mid-range shots from the baseline and consciously block his long-range shots from the high post, trying to force him to move to the corners. His long-range shots from the corners are not bad, but they are definitely much weaker than his long-range shots from the high post.

His strategy was to drive into the paint when opponents blocked him at the high post. This approach proved very effective against most opponents, such as the Bulls and Hornets.

However, this strategy has failed in the last four games, against opponents whose centers were Hibbert, Yao Ming, Howard, and O'Neal.

In half-court sets, Granger blocked the high post, while Hibbert waited under the basket; Battier blocked the high post, while Yao Ming and Artest were ready to help defend him from close range; Turkoglu blocked the high post, while Howard was already crouching in the elbow area; Hill blocked the high post, while O'Neal was also waiting under the basket.

Although there aren't many teams with this forward + center configuration, he can't just be thinking about beating weaker teams, right?
Moreover, both the Magic and the Pacers are in the Eastern Conference and are playoff contenders, so there's a chance they'll meet.

Two other top teams in the East also have the resources to defend against this – the Cavaliers with LeBron James, Ben Wallace, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas, and the Celtics with Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Kendrick Perkins.

Those four teams have already started to deal with him this way, and other teams will definitely follow suit.

When you encounter a problem, find a way to solve it!
After discussing with Mark Jackson and the team's two assistant coaches responsible for developing players, Yi Shui made a decision.

Since the high-post long-range shooting has reached a bottleneck, and the mid-range shooting from the wings is unlikely to improve to a level sufficient to defeat the opponent in a short period of time, then we should focus our energy on baseline shooting.

For the remainder of the regular season, in terms of basic skills training, we should maintain basic training in the high post, focus on the baseline, practice the mid-range shot to the point where we can shoot, and develop the long-range shot from the corners on both wings!

Of course, you should still practice your skills and learn new ones as needed. No matter how good your basic skills are, you still need to rely on your technical skills to bring them to fruition.

After practicing long-range shooting for two and a half hours in the morning, Yi Shui arrived at the agreed-upon restaurant at noon to have lunch with Gay, Yad, Robinson, Thabeet, Kemba Walker, Johnson Bird, Calhoun, Clark, Jerry Cook, and others.

During his freshman season at Yi Shui University, he made it to the quarterfinals of the 3 Madness tournament with Gay and Yad... but was surprisingly eliminated. Although he didn't win the championship, that experience is still very memorable, after all, it was his first year playing basketball in the United States.

Robinson, Thabeet, Walker, and Bird were all brought by Yad and Robinson to get acquainted with Gay. This group of players are all potential NBA players for the current Husky team. If they end up on the same team, Yi Shui and Gay can protect them.

After lunch, Yi Shui took his teammates, coach, and younger students for a stroll around Madison Square Garden, then let them play on their own.
He instructed his staff to notify the team's merchants that he, Yi Di, would pay for today's purchases.

However, the old teammates and coaches weren't the kind of people who liked to take advantage of others... But there were some who did. Thabeet, Walker, and Johnson-Bird, the three juniors, all took some souvenirs with them. Some of the items were quite expensive, costing several hundred dollars. They took them back to school to use as gifts to impress girls. In the end, they didn't let Yi Shui pay for the expenses. After receiving the report from his subordinates, Walsh signed it and put it in the team's account.

In fact, the Knicks' management has always hoped that Yi Shui would be a bit more "arrogant." Not as brainless as Marbury or Ewing, but at least like mid-range king Houston or "Grandma Johnson," who loved to use the team's reputation for their own gain.

But Yi Shui was different. Every time, he would act like he was going to pay, and he was actually ready to pay... Walsh and Dolan, the two managers who believed that Yi Shui had intellectual problems, both thought that Yi Shui was too honest.

These honest people are the hardest to deal with. They are stubborn and might leave if they are unhappy. So they have to pay more attention to details. If Yi Shui really pays for the money that is already in the team's 'budget', their team will be drowned in the spittle of New York fans.

If Yi Shui knew that the president and boss thought of him this way in private, he would be speechless. He grew up in a uniquely ancient civilization, a land of etiquette where the tradition has never been broken; surely he should have basic manners!

To lump him together with those people is an insult to him!
...

After a day of rest, the Knicks will face their final opponent in their four-game home run – the Memphis Grizzlies.

The matchup between Yi Shui and Rose has become a hot topic today; a showdown between popular rookies always gets extra attention.

Even after Derrick Rose entered the NBA, he remained a prime example of a 'comeback' story.

The highest predicted result was fifth place, but it turned out to be third.

During the offseason, the media created a buzzword about the "Three Rookies of the 08 Draft," namely Yi Shui, Mayo, and Beasley.

But after only one week of the regular season, the title of the 08 rookie class had become 'one super team and four big teams'.

Yi Shui was singled out for discussion, with two rookies strongly entering the ranks of 'top rookies': Rose and Love.

As the season progresses, their title has become "One Super, Three Top, Five Excellent".

Yi Shui remains in a league of his own. Beasley, one of the original "Four Top Rookies," has fallen out of the top tier, while Rose remains strong, and there are already calls for him to be better than Mayo and Love.

After the Heat traded Marion, Beasley was not kept in the starting lineup. Spoelstra made him play as the sixth man, and his scoring average improved, but he was stuck at around 14 points and couldn't break 15 points. Unlike Love, he couldn't get double-digit rebounds, so he was stuck in an awkward position.

The increasingly outstanding rookies, Brook Lopez, Russell Westbrook, Eric Gordon, and Marc Gasol, have all outperformed Beasley.

However, the reason why the 08 rookie class generated so much buzz, attracted so much attention, and had its 'class' constantly being adjusted was mainly because of Yi Shui.

Without Yi Shui, the 08 draft class would have been just an ordinary strong draft year. But because of Yi Shui, people felt that this draft class was capable of competing with the 03 draft class to see who was the strongest draft class of the first decade of the 21st century!
The strongest draft class of the 80s was the 84 draft, and the strongest draft class of the 90s was the 96 draft; these conclusions have already been drawn.

Originally, with the first decade of the new century coming to a close, people already considered the class of 03 to be the strongest, but now it's hard to say...

It is foreseeable that this topic will remain popular for the next few years.

At 6:40 p.m., the Grizzlies and Knicks entered Madison Square Garden one after the other.

Yesterday, the two buddies had lunch together. When they got to the court, Gay led the way in trash-talking Yi Shui.

Derrick Rose, the Grizzlies' de facto leader, is very satisfied with this.

Yi Shui thought to herself, 'Senior is destined to be the second-in-command! What a sycophant!'

After exchanging pleasantries, Yi Shui returned to the bench and looked at the big screen, which displayed the records of the two teams and the data of the key players.

The Grizzlies have played 45 games so far, with a record of 21 wins and 24 losses. If they can achieve this record in the Western Conference, they would be ranked sixth or seventh in the Eastern Conference. They are capable of competing with the Bulls, Heat, and Pacers, and are even likely to rank higher than these three teams.

Rose averaged 16.2 points and 7.2 assists per game, ranking third in scoring and first in assists among rookies.

Gay's performance was different from what Yi Shui remembered. Originally, when Gay partnered with Mayo in his third year, his scoring did not increase but decreased, dropping from an average of 20+ points per game in his second year to an average of 18+ points per game.

Mayo doesn't like to attack the paint, and neither does Gay, so they hinder each other.

But Rose is different; he likes to attack the paint and can compress the opponent's frontcourt defense, giving Gay better opportunities to shoot from the high post.

So far this season, Gay's performance has been steadily improving compared to last season, from 20.1 points to 21.9 points. He actually reached 22+ points before Christmas, but dropped after January, with 6.2 rebounds and 2.8 assists.

Having spent a significant amount of time receiving passes from Rose at the high post, he has developed some ability to facilitate from the free-throw line. However, his turnovers have also increased, averaging 2.9 per game, almost at Durant's level, with an assist-to-turnover ratio of less than 1.

小加索尔表现也稳定下来，场均拿到11分7板2.2助攻0.8抢断1.4盖帽。

However, these players were not what Yi Shui was concerned about at the moment; he already knew how outstanding these players were.

His gaze fell on Marion's stats—20 games, averaging 17.2 points, 8.6 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.7 steals, and 1.1 blocks. He ranked second in scoring, first in rebounding, fourth in assists, first in steals, and second in blocks on the Grizzlies. It was a complete contrast to his time with the Heat!

I once saw an interview with Marion where he told the reporter, "Derrick said he needs me, he thinks I'm an All-Star, and he wants me to move forward with him. I have to respond."

Marion said it, and he did it. Before he joined the Grizzlies, the Grizzlies had a record of 6 wins and 10 losses in their first month. It was terrible, but winning was also difficult.

In the 20 games Marion played, the Grizzlies' record soared to 12 wins and 8 losses.

Unfortunately, since Marion joined the Grizzlies, he has been plagued by injuries, perhaps due to playing too hard or because he had been slacking off for too long and his body couldn't handle the renewed intensity. He has missed 9 out of the last 29 games, and the Grizzlies have only won 3 out of the 9 games he missed.

After all, the Grizzlies gave up their second-best guard and their first backup center in order to acquire Marion.

Marion is playing so hard, it's unclear whether his injury has fully healed; he's just pushing himself to the limit...

Yi Shui deeply understood from Marion how unlucky it could be to encounter a terrible management team.

Before the match, Yi Shui felt sorry for the hacker's situation. After the match started, he charged at the hacker with all his might!
When Marion was still with the Heat, Yi Shui had matched up against him. Although Marion didn't play with much effort at the time, he maintained basic professionalism and showed very strong defensive skills.

Yi Shui felt it was unwise to rely on technique to defeat Marion, who has a short neck, excellent effective height, short shoulders, and unusually long arms, and plays defense relentlessly. He decided to simply overpower him with sheer strength.

The game wasn't as intense as it was in the second week of the season. The Grizzlies played with more discipline and their floor was noticeably higher, but they also lacked that reckless drive. Of course, the main reason was that the Knicks were stronger than they were two and a half months ago!

尽管罗斯拿到15分9助攻、盖伊拿到20分6板3助攻、马里昂拿到18分8板2助攻2抢断1盖帽、小加索尔拿到8分7板3助攻1盖帽、替补上场的洛瑞还拿到了15分……但灰熊队还是在客场败下阵来。

易水19投10中，其中三分球6中3，加上11罚全中的罚球，外线强突、低位背打强凿、接应远投，全部起飞，拿到34分14板4助攻1抢断2盖帽。

After a period of slump, Curry seemed to respond to the high draft pick from his draft class, showing signs of improvement. He made 3 of 7 three-pointers and scored 15 points and 5 assists, a respectable performance.

Led by Yi Shui, the Knicks comfortably defeated the Grizzlies 116-103, ending their two-game losing streak and securing their 30th win of the season!
(End of this chapter)