Champion, please stay!

Chapter 159, Section 157: A Series of Battles Against James!
Previously, when the Bobcats traded their Slam Dunk Contest champion for Diaw and Raja Bell, Yi Shui believed that the Bobcats had a chance to make the playoffs.

The situation in the East also favored the Bobcats. After the All-Star break, the Bulls and Pistons, who had failed to make any trades, began to tank.

Both the Bulls and the Pistons have a table full of chips that are now worthless.

Both teams' trade negotiations were a case of wanting both: they wanted to send away veteran players with big contracts to free up cap space and tank, but they also wanted corresponding returns and were very unwilling to take on bad contracts.

But those veterans with big contracts are useless to bottom-tier teams with cap space, and they are unlikely to give their tanking draft picks to the Pistons for players like Hamilton and Rasheed Wallace.

Strong teams want them, but they don't have the cap space. If they want to trade, they can only offer mid-level contracts, bad contracts, or overvalued contracts to match, but the Pistons are unwilling to do so.

For example, the Cavaliers offered Hamilton a contract with Zydrunas Ilgauskas plus two first-round picks in 10 and 12, but it was rejected.

They then offered Rasheed Wallace a contract with Zydrunas Ilgauskas plus a 10-year first-round pick and a second-round pick, but were rejected again.

According to Detroit media reports, the Pistons look down on Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who earns a multi-million dollar salary but only averages 12 points and 7 rebounds per game.

This move is baffling to anyone who understands penalty kicks. What happened to the plan to tank and rebuild?
The Bulls are in a similar situation. This season, Hinrich's performance has improved, averaging 14.2 points, 3 rebounds, 6 assists and 1.5 steals per game. He has accurate shooting, good court vision, a tough playing style and excellent defense, making him a point guard that strong teams love.

At the beginning of the season, Hinrich stated that he refused to report to the Heat. The breakdown of negotiations between the Bulls and the Heat was not the Bulls' fault.

However, during the All-Star Weekend, with Steve Blake sidelined for 4-6 weeks due to injury, the Trail Blazers wanted to trade for Hinrich, offering Nicolas Batum in exchange for Darius Miles's $900 million bad contract to match, but the Bulls rejected the offer, which was quite puzzling.

Similar situations, both public and private, have occurred many times this season. In the last few days of the trade window after the All-Star break, no team paid any attention to the Bulls.

As a result, the Bulls and Pistons began to tank after the All-Star break.

The Pistons benched Rasheed Wallace and started Antonio McDyess and Kwame Brown; they paired Allen Iverson and Rodney Stuckey at guard and benched Hamilton.

The Pistons' reputation for treating veterans had already collapsed once in 2006 when Ben Wallace left for Chicago. Now, with this latest move, they've been under intense scrutiny since the All-Star break, and their reputation has completely crumbled. Even local Detroit fans are calling for Dumars to step down... But they've achieved their goal: a 1-4 record in the five games since the All-Star break, dropping them out of the top eight in the Eastern Conference.

The Bulls actually made similar moves, pairing Eric Gordon and Ben Gordon as a shooting guard duo. Luol Deng was injured, so instead of using the better-performing Sefolosha, they started Larry Hughes. They also started Noah and Tyrus Thomas in the frontcourt, and benched Gooden... but nobody paid attention to their moves.

The Bulls' management has always been capricious, and people are used to it.

Small cities and poor teams are more concerned about reputation. Chicago, a big city, has Jordan's statue and retired jerseys and never has to worry about box office revenue or advertising, so they don't care about this.

In short, after a series of questionable moves by both teams, they quickly dropped out of the top eight.

But the team that stepped up was not the Bobcats, who assembled a starting lineup that was quite competitive in the East, had a decent bench, a suitable head coach, and whose salary cap reached $6200 million for the first time in the team's history.

Instead, the 76ers and Pacers won by default, while the Heat climbed to sixth in the Eastern Conference without any significant improvement in their record.

This was caused by Lakers center Andrew Bynum. At the end of January, when the Bobcats and the Lakers played, Gerald Wallace drove in to dunk, but Bynum elbowed him in the right chest and carried him away on the spot.

A detailed post-game examination revealed a fractured rib and a collapsed lung lobe. These injuries are not difficult to treat, and Gerald Wallace returned to the court after the All-Star break, but his performance plummeted! He didn't score in double digits even once in several games!

Tonight, when Yi Shui was matched up against Gerald Wallace, on the offensive end, as long as Gerald Wallace made a little more running, he would cut inside and receive the ball and shoot with completely lost accuracy; on the defensive end, Gerald Wallace's decline was even more serious. As long as Yi Shui made a long run and then stopped and turned back, Gerald Wallace could not keep up.

Later on, Larry Brown could only use Diaw to defend Yi Shui, who easily scored with a drive-and-kick...

...

After defeating the Bobcats, Yi Shui and his team left New York for a three-game road trip.

4号和5号的背靠背，尼克斯队先是以120比109击败雄鹿队、接着以101比106憾负篮网队，易水分别拿到了20分8板5助攻、33分10板3助攻。

On the 7th, the Knicks and Pacers played their final game of a four-day, three-game road trip in Indianapolis. The game ended in a 110-110 tie in regulation time, forcing overtime.

Yi Shui, who managed his energy well during regulation time, performed exceptionally well in overtime, shooting 2-for-4 from the field, including 1-for-3 from three-point range, and 2-for-2 from the free-throw line for 7 points, totaling 32 points for the game. However, apart from him, the only other Knicks player to score was Birdman with a putback layup for 2 points.

For the Pacers, Granger, Randolph, and Murphy combined for 14 points in overtime.

The Knicks ultimately lost to the Pacers 119-124, suffering their second consecutive defeat.

After a three-game road trip, they returned to New York and rested for one night before hosting the Celtics on the 9th.

After the game started at 7 p.m., the Knicks, playing at home, dominated the Celtics.

Without Garnett, the Celtics, at least for now, seem like just an average Eastern Conference playoff team, their strength having dropped by more than one level!
Without Garnett's mid-range help defense, Perkins, who claimed he could defend Howard one-on-one, became a joke. He was dunked on by Yi Shui at the start of the game and could only spread out, but as a heavy center, he couldn't cover back after spreading out, and was endlessly cut by Swift and Birdman.

Similarly, without Garnett, Pierce and Glen Davis's defense was mediocre; their one-on-one defense was okay, but their help defense was a mess.

Yi Shui, Curry, Harrington, and Wilson Chandler broke in, and the opposing forwards either double-teamed them excessively or didn't move at all, making no sense of strategy.

Without Garnett's positioning and screens in the elbow area, the Celtics' already sub-mid-level rebounding ability became even worse.

Without Garnett, the Celtics' offense has also suffered major problems, with Rondo's turnover rate soaring. It's clear that Rondo is not yet capable of orchestrating a team's offense on his own. The Celtics' plan to let veterans mentor rookies and let rookies retire has been thwarted by Garnett's season-ending injury.

11投6中，其中三分球2中1，加上6中5的罚球，易水只拿到18分，时隔26场比赛后再一次单场得分低于20，上一次已经是1月初的事情了，但还有16板11助攻！

18分16板11助攻，易水率领尼克斯队以124比105轰翻凯尔特人队！
The Knicks and Celtics were tied 2-2 in their four regular season matchups, which pleased the Knicks players, but the media and fans weren't focused on that aspect of the game.

With Garnett out for the season, the Celtics are 1 win and 2 losses, currently in disarray, so losing is to be expected.

人们的关注点在易水4次与凯尔特人队交手时的篮板球数量上，8板、生涯最高的17板、11板、生涯第二高的16板……4场比赛合计52板，场均13板，远高于前60场的场均8.5板。

...

On the 10th, the Knicks will host the Cavaliers in a back-to-back game at home.

The Cavaliers' playing style was almost exactly the same as when they first met a few months ago, with no changes whatsoever, which inexplicably reminded D'Antoni of the Spurs... The Knicks' strategy for dealing with the game was naturally unchanged as well.

On offense—run! Outmaneuver Zydrunas I and the Town Hall!
On the defensive end, James starts with close-range footwork as one of the three forwards.

Unfortunately, this time the Knicks were outmaneuvered. They led 24-21 in the first quarter and 26-25 in the second, taking a 50-46 lead at halftime. However, they started to fall behind in the third quarter, losing 24-25 to the Cavaliers, and were ultimately crushed by James in the final quarter, 28-36.

Yi Shui shot 15-for-32 from the field, including 3-for-8 from three-point range, and 7-for-7 from the free-throw line, scoring 40 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 assists. However, he couldn't overcome LeBron James's late-game scoring spree of 20 points, finishing with 35 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists. The Knicks lost 102-107. After two rest days, on the 13th, the two teams switched venues, with the Knicks traveling to Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland to face the Cavaliers once again.

This time, it's the Cavaliers' second game of a back-to-back at home.

After two days of rest and recuperation, the Knicks scored 34-25 in the first quarter, leading by 9 points!
The Cavaliers, having recovered, responded with a 30-25 run in the second quarter, narrowing the gap to 4 points, but failed to gain momentum. In the third quarter, playing at home, their offense was very effective, with 11 free throws in the quarter effectively shutting down Birdman, but their defense couldn't keep up.

Led by Yi Shui's offensive surge, the Knicks and Cavaliers tied the score at 27-27. After three quarters, the Knicks maintained a 4-point lead at 86-82.

These 4 points were crucial. In the final quarter, when his footwork couldn't keep up, James relentlessly drove to the basket and sought contact.

At this point, aside from criticisms about his footwork in the paint, his tendency to pass in crucial moments, and his excessive focus on stats, James was undeniably playing with incredible intensity! Even after being slapped on the head by Mickey Moore and bleeding, he continued to charge forward after stopping the bleeding, leading his team to a 30-26 run in the final quarter, tying the game in the final moments and maintaining possession of the ball!

Then another crucial moment occurred for the Knicks: James passed the ball to rookie JJ Hickson, who was now available, in the final moments.

Hickson was stunned when he received the ball: Wasn't I brought up here so that I could grab the rebound if I missed the shot?
Without taking a single shot, he received the ball but no one paid him any attention. Following their leader's instructions, the Knicks players stayed close to their assigned defenders. Hickson could only use his clumsy dribbling skills to drive into the paint, jump to dunk... only to be slapped away by Yi Shui, who was positioned under the basket!

Hickson recalled a college preseason game a year and a half ago, when this guy in front of him was still a guard...

The Knicks' counterattack failed to materialize, and Curry's pass in the frontcourt was disrupted and went out of bounds. At the end of regulation time, the two teams were tied at 112!
In overtime, the Cavaliers players simply couldn't keep up with James' pace. Although James made all four free throws for four points, the rest of the team failed to score.

For the Knicks, Yi Shui only made one three-pointer in overtime, but he also had two assists on the left side of the basket after receiving the ball on the wing. With Ben Wallace out in overtime, James spread out to defend long-range shots, leaving the Cavaliers' free-throw line completely open.

With Curry drawing a foul on a drive and making both free throws, the Knicks defeated the Cavaliers 9-4 in overtime, bringing the series score to 121-116!

詹姆斯26投12中，其中三分球3中1，加上21中16的罚球，狂轰41分9板7助攻，但没能赢球。

易水19投9中，其中三分球6中2，加上6中5的罚球，算上加时赛的3分才拿到25分，但还有11板14助攻！

...

After playing the Cavaliers, the Knicks arrived in Detroit the next day at noon. Tonight is another back-to-back game, and afternoon practice has been canceled. D'Antoni plans to hold a pre-game meeting to discuss tactical points and then go straight to warm-up and play the game.

Yi Shui felt the sorrow of being a "minor team"; the NBA headquarters next door was treating them like dirt.

Aside from the first month, the rest of the season was tough.

Even the first month wasn't arranged by the league to favor them; rather, they were given a few more home games in the first month because they had a bunch of away games in December.

But the 'popular events' have to be scheduled at the right time.

他在午休的时候上网看着球队官网战绩表，近7场比赛4胜3负，从38胜18负下滑到42胜21负，胜率跌到67%了，心里在滴血。

In fact, he felt that they had made considerable progress during this period. D'Antoni hadn't been idle during the All-Star Weekend; he had come up with many ways to improve tactics, and most of his ideas were correct.

He could also clearly feel his own progress—on the 9th, he completed the 7-day intensive training of 'ambidextrous fighting'!
After each day of training, he could feel the improvement in his left-hand ball control and passing the next day. As early as the day after completing the '4th day' training, he began to specifically strengthen the techniques of 'rhythm flow breakthrough', 'McGrady version triple threat', and 'Beasley version mismatch isolation'.

The effect wasn't immediate, but when I needed to use my left hand in a match, I played much more smoothly than before.

The poor performance was mainly due to the large fluctuations in the overall offensive performance.

Fortunately, the form of other teams also fluctuated after entering March.

The Cavaliers are in the best position. They have fewer games in March, only 15, but they have the most games in the entire league in April, with 11. With the regular season coming to an end, the games are attracting a lot of attention, which is the time for the King to shine.

The Cavaliers have played 6 games this month so far, losing last night's game, but still have a record of 4 wins and 2 losses, bringing their record to 47 wins and 15 losses. It's only a matter of time before they surpass the Celtics' 48 wins and 16 losses to take the top spot in the Eastern Conference.

The Celtics, who have gone 3-4 in their last 7 games, marking their worst run since the Big Three were formed, made headlines yesterday.

Head coach Doc Rivers and defensive assistant coach Tom Thibodeau had a heated argument during team practice. In the end, Thibodeau was fine and even got authorization from Rivers to lead the team's training during Garnett's injury period and to participate in the team's tactical planning... When Yi Shui saw this news yesterday, he thought of the future Celtics team with its pure iron-blooded defense.

Rivers is really lucky!
However, Yi Shui wasn't too concerned about who was the top team in the East; his focus was on the Magic and the Hawks.

After acquiring Alston, the Magic had a core backcourt player who controlled the game, a center responsible for rebounding and rim protection, a forward responsible for playmaking and long-range shooting, and a point guard responsible for fast breaks and passing. With two shooters, their core playing style immediately came back to work, and Alston's first game after joining the team resulted in a big win.

Of course, a necessary period of adjustment is still needed. In addition, the Magic had a busy schedule in the first half of March, with 8 games from the 1st to the 13th. The team's tactical coordination improved quickly, but their shooting form was greatly affected. They only managed 4 wins and 4 losses in those 8 games, bringing their record from 39 wins and 17 losses to 43 wins and 21 losses. They are currently only half a game ahead of the Knicks, who have played one less game.

The Hawks also had 8 games in the first 13 days of March, and their situation was much worse than that of the Knicks and Magic, with a record of only 3 wins and 5 losses.

The Knicks still have a chance to finish fourth and even third!
...

Although his record wasn't good during this period, Yi Shui could still see his name every day when he checked the news. He made the news when he won, and he also made the news when he lost but scored a high score. In the three games he lost, he scored 33, 32 and 40 points respectively, which really showed that he gave it his all.

He won last night, defeating the Cavaliers, and naturally became a hot topic again today.

With two triple-doubles in three games, Yi Shui's rookie season total has reached six triple-doubles, just one shy of Magic Johnson's record for the most triple-doubles by a rookie in modern basketball!

Yi Shui saw that many people on the forum were discussing whether he could match or surpass Magic Johnson to become the rookie with the most triple-doubles since 1976.

But both fans and haters say it's hard to guess.

The reason is that the Emperor prefers to score, and during close games, he always prioritizes shooting rather than passing to his teammates.

Of course, opinions differ: fans say he's willing to take responsibility, while haters say he's acting selfishly.

However, to be honest, he himself wasn't confident he could get another triple-double. During the game, he didn't care about that at all; he just did whatever was most conducive to winning.

Regarding his two triple-doubles in three games, there is an even more popular and hotly debated topic among fans: is an all-around player stronger or a scoring player stronger?

The discussion mainly revolves around his two matches against James yesterday and the day before yesterday.

On the 10th, he scored 40+ points but lost, while James got a triple-double and won; yesterday, James scored 40+ points but lost, while he got a triple-double and won.

This time, Yi Shui discovered that neither his team nor James' team had put any effort into guiding public opinion, letting the media and fans do as they pleased...

(End of this chapter)