Champion, please stay!

Chapter 184, Section 182: Sweep!

The Cavaliers suffered two consecutive home losses, causing a public uproar.

Even though the Cavaliers suffered a crushing defeat in Game 1, trailing by more than 20 points at one point, the general consensus was that they would win the series.

Media and experts have conducted detailed analyses, revealing that the Cavaliers had many problems in Game 1 that could have been avoided.

In terms of roster, apart from a few loud and extreme fans, no one thinks the Knicks can be compared to the Cavaliers. The Cavaliers' bench players could all be starters on the Knicks.

In Game 2, the Cavaliers did make significant adjustments, avoiding most of the mistakes they made in Game 1, but they still lost.

Because of one person—Emperor Yi!
Five long two-pointers, two mid-range shots, and two three-pointers, most of which were taken against the defense, and they literally killed the Cavaliers!

Yi Shui also performed exceptionally well in attacking the basket and fast breaks. Despite the opponent's relentless pressure, he was still able to make shots. The Cavaliers' interior defense was terrified of him. In the second half, whenever Yi Shui cut inside, Harrington would have the opportunity to pass the ball to the wing.

Of the 6 assists he recorded in the second half, 4 came when the opposing wing players collapsed to double-team Yi Shui as he cut in without the ball, or when the opposing interior players spread out early to block him.

Los Angeles media outlets have divided the game into segments for comparison.

During the 13-minute break at Yishui, the Knicks played quite well, but they were generally at a disadvantage against James's offensive onslaught led by a group of shooters. They could only barely hold on by launching a strong initial attack.

But starting from the second half of the first quarter, whenever Yi Shui came on the court, the Knicks were able to widen the gap. Although it wasn't big, it gradually accumulated and built a double-digit lead!
The New York Times website features a single sentence on its entire front page: "Superstars, why wait?"

...

The next morning, Yi Shui saw the news and found that overnight, some media outlets and fans had reached a consensus—the loss was all Mike Brown's fault for coaching.

James had 38 points, 10 rebounds, and 9 assists, just 2 points and 1 assist away from a 40+ triple-double. He played so hard, even in the final possession, he was still trying to close the gap. You can't blame King for that.

It's understandable that the role players are being criticized; after James complained in a post-game interview that the role players weren't as good as the Knicks, he was heavily criticized.

According to James, the Cavaliers only have him as a star player, which means they have nine role players with annual salaries of over $3 million, including six with annual salaries of over $5 million and three with annual salaries of over $10 million.

As for the Knicks, even if they put Swift, whose contract was severely overpaid, into the role player pool, their combined salaries would not be as high as those of Ben Wallace, Szczerbiak, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas.

The media and fans must not step on this landmine again, at least not for now.

Then it's all Mike Brown's fault. Mike Brown really didn't have much presence during the game. He's the type of coach who prepares thoroughly, but when unexpected problems arise during the game, he can only rely on the players' performance... or give him a 5-minute timeout to think things through, and he can pick out a few tactics from the tactical library taught to him by the three top coaches.

Early in the morning, around 9 a.m., Yi Shui arrived at the airport with the team to fly back to New York.

Last night, the people of Cleveland were on the verge of rioting. The fans at the stadium were stunned, but those who weren't there, or even those who didn't watch the game, couldn't accept it...

In this city where the working class makes up nearly 4% of the total population, Walsh was worried about something going wrong, so he changed the departure time overnight. Fortunately, they have a private plane, so it wasn't too much of a hassle.

At noon, Yi Shui had just arrived home and hadn't even unpacked her luggage when her boss called.

good news!
He went to his study, turned on his computer, and waited for more than ten minutes. At noon, the NBA official website announced the final awards of the regular season—the three All-NBA teams.

All-Rookie Team.

Second Team: Curry, Westbrook, Beasley, Marc Gasol, Brook Lopez.

First team: Rose, Mayo, Eric Gordon, Yi Shui, Love.

Best defensive lineup.

Second Team: Rondo, Wade, Artest, Battier, Duncan.

First team: Paul, Kobe, James, Garnett, Howard.

Best lineup:
Third Team: Billups, Parker, Pierce, Gasol, O'Neal.

Second team: Paul, Roy, Nowitzki, Duncan, Yao Ming.

First team: Wade, Kobe, James, Yi Shui, Howard.

Yi Shui became the third rookie to be selected to the All-NBA First Team since 1976!

Although he had guessed that he was likely to be selected and his boss had found out about the news before the official announcement, he was still incredibly excited to see his own picture and name in the first round section.

He first called his parents and told them about it.

My son plays basketball. Although his parents hadn't paid attention to it before, they've now become basketball experts. They were woken up at midnight, but they were happy to share their joy with their son.

Then I called my university coach and club coach, and finally discussed work with my agent... and then went back to surfing the internet!
With the announcement of the All-Star lineup, the discussion has focused on two players.

One of them is Yi Shui, who was selected for the All-NBA First Team in his rookie season.

Another one... MVP and two All-NBA First Team selections, LeBron James.

James was caught in a media storm after losing the game on the night of his MVP speech and being selected for both the All-NBA First Team and the All-NBA Second Team the following day, despite being down 0-2.

However, Paul Fauci is quite something; he managed to create the impression that James was in a helpless situation where his teammates were having a bad shooting night and the coach was incompetent.

G1拿到30+三双、G2差2分1助攻40+三双，舆论战场的操作空间确实大。

Last night's criticism focused on Mike Brown's coaching, while this afternoon's criticism focused on Mo Williams' poor performance when handling the ball on offense. Both of these points are objective facts, and the criticism has indeed been effective.

It's much simpler in Yishui. Whether it's media with whom you have a good relationship or with whom you don't, everyone is praising you!

The Knicks finished fifth in the regular season. Of the top four teams, apart from the Celtics who play team basketball, the other three all have a player on the All-NBA First Team, and the fifth-place team also has one, which is normal. Moreover, Yi Shui's stats are really good.

The current public opinion environment is that good data equates to strength, so we have to follow this path.

The newspaper that praised him the most was not the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, or the San Francisco Chronicle, but the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

The Honest Man newspaper picked up on a particularly hot topic at the end of the regular season and revived it – rookie caliber.

Saying it's just a rehash isn't accurate; the Cleveland Plain Dealer went straight for a ranking of all-time rookies!

Third place: Tim Duncan.

Second place: Bird.

First place: Emperor Yishui.

Yi Shui was surprised that the Cleveland media praised him.

When he opened the column article, the comment section was still empty. After he finished reading the articles by Chui Ta, Da Niao, and Shi Fo, and refreshed the page, there were already thousands of comments in just a few minutes.

Celtics fans are unhappy with this ranking, Duncan's fans are unhappy, Lakers fans are even more upset, and Jordan fans also want to say something.

Thus, a scene of Knicks fans engaging in heated debate emerged. While New Yorkers may not be good at fighting, their fingers on the keyboard are incredibly nimble.

Emperor Yi: Which of the Thirty-Six Stratagems is this?
Seeing that he had suddenly found himself on the opposite side of the Lakers fans, the Celtics fans, and the Stone Buddha fans... Yi Shui was not angry at all, but rather a little happy.

Such hype and the resulting public reaction actually indicate that fans of those historically greatest superstars also acknowledge his performance, but are dissatisfied with his ranking.

If those people's fans think he's unworthy, and the public opinion isn't like that, the hype might still be high, but it will only involve different kinds of mockery.

…After browsing the news and having fun for an hour, at 1 p.m., Yi Shui changed into formal attire and got into the car sent by the brand. Today's work started at 2 p.m. and was scheduled until 9 p.m., including brand appearances, advertising shoots, and live interviews.

Fortunately, there are two rest days after Game 2, and the team has no training scheduled for today, so it won't affect his playoff performance.

Today's activities are even more exciting than when the regular season ended.

Several brands are ready, and they definitely have their best lineup. Whether it's the second or third team, once they've made it, they'll strike while the iron is hot and do a promotional push.

If you're selected for the first team, then you should promote it even more.

At 8:30 p.m., during a live interview on TNT, Barkley asked the hottest topic that had been trending since noon—the greatest rookie of all time.

Seeing the fat man's malicious expression, Yi Shui first rolled her eyes in front of the camera and said, "You're really not a good person!"

After everyone laughed, Yi Shui continued, "I am very confident in myself. I think I am no worse than anyone else. However, you can't make comparisons like that. That would be disrespectful to Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael, and Tim."

There are also Chamberlain and Russell, who are pioneers of basketball. Without them, basketball could not have become popular around the world so quickly.

Without Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, the NBA wouldn't be the sport that the world follows.

Without Michael, Shaq, Tim, Allen, Tracy, Kobe, Steve, Dirk, the Little Giant... I probably wouldn't play basketball. They made me fall in love with basketball.

I think I'm definitely better than them, but to say I'm a better player, even just comparing my rookie season, I don't think I'm good enough, because you can't just compare rookie seasons. But we can look forward to the future.

Even the golden duo of commentators Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley couldn't find fault with Yi Shui's words.

They felt that Yi Shui was very special, with many flaws. He was arrogant, proud, and even conceited, but he always humbled himself when mentioning his predecessors.

However, the online discussion had already exploded before the live interview even ended.

The topic of 'You have to respect the MVP' has gone viral again...

...

After two rest days, Game 3 between the Knicks and the Cavaliers arrived on May 14th.

At 5:40 p.m., the visiting Cavaliers entered Madison Square Garden first.

The deafening boos from the crowd, reminiscent of Salt Lake City, left the Cavaliers players somewhat bewildered.

Is this still New York?

When the home team entered the field, especially when Yi Shui was the last to run out of the player tunnel, the fans cheered and shouted like cultists... Yes, it was all because of this guy!

The greatest rookie in history!

连新秀年拿FMVP的魔术师、新秀年20+10+4一阵的大鸟、新秀年一阵二防的邓肯、新秀年场均28+6+5的乔丹等人及他们的球迷，都不否认易水是那一梯队的超级新秀。

Only players like this have the ability to change the basketball atmosphere of a city!

Trailing 0-2, the Cavaliers players, whose confidence had already been shaken, saw their morale plummet once again as they entered the court...

The match started at 6 p.m.

D'Antoni felt this was the easiest series he'd had in all his years of coaching, regardless of winning or losing, because what he needed to do was very simple.

The opponent is very strong, and no team except the Mavericks can match their roster depth. But let alone making in-game adjustments, their preparation adjustments are very subtle and easy to predict.

All he needs to do is prepare well, adjust the tactical details, rotate the lineup, and call a timeout when necessary to deploy the tactics needed at the moment... He doesn't need to put in as much thought as he did in the first round; he can leave the game to the players!
Tonight, for the first time since the second round, they gained the upper hand from the start!
前半节13比6、后半节12比9，首节尼克斯队以25比15领先骑士队10分！
In the second quarter, the Knicks outscored the Knicks 13-9 in the first half of the quarter;
The second half was a back-and-forth affair. In the final moments of the first half, James drove into the paint, faced a double team, and lobbed a shot off the backboard, giving the Cavaliers an 11-12 run in that half-quarter, preventing the Knicks from widening the gap further.

But with 3 seconds left, Curry received the inbound pass from Yi Shui and rushed out to the three-point line. With 0.5 seconds remaining, he pushed the ball out... and hit a super long three-pointer from the top of the arc in the backcourt!

单节28比20，半场打完，尼克斯队以53比35领先骑士队18分！
James didn't give up and continued his offensive onslaught in the second half, finally gaining an advantage. He led his team to score 30 points in the third quarter, but the advantage was small, and the Knicks scored another 28 points!
The Knicks players are all on fire! They don't care how fiercely King leads the team, they only care about how fast they can charge!

In the final quarter, the Knicks' scoring dropped significantly, managing only 22 points, but the Cavaliers also failed to maintain their momentum from the third quarter, scoring only 25 points.

31投14中，其中三分球7中2，加上10中7的罚球，詹姆斯狂轰37分8板8助攻2抢断。

Putting on his earplugs to ignore the complaints, Yi Shui realized that James was indeed very powerful and truly played with his life on the line!

He played another 46 minutes tonight, and only rested for a total of 4 minutes in the previous three games! Not counting free throws and turnovers, James had 8 successful field goal attempts per quarter!
However, James was really dragged down tonight. The rest of the Cavaliers defended well, thanks to the defensive system and discipline.

On offense, however, he wasn't as decisive when receiving passes and shooting as before, and he wasn't as aggressive when attacking with the ball. Delonte West even passed the ball back to James after being closely guarded, letting James take the shot himself, and his aggressiveness in rebounding wasn't as high as before.

Yi Shui felt it wasn't just a matter of the arena atmosphere; the effect of 'Holy Monarch' wasn't that exaggerated. He hadn't experienced this against the Hawks before…

On his own, he played 34 minutes, but his shooting percentage was not as good as in the previous two games, making 9 of 21 shots, which was very difficult to block. He made 3 of 8 three-pointers and 7 of 7 free throws, scoring 28 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks.

大卫-李的18分11板、库里12分6助攻、哈灵顿10分6板4助攻、杜洪17分5助攻……

尼克斯队5人得分上双，以103比90击败骑士队，大比分3比0领先！

The date is May 16th, and it's Game 4 of the Knicks vs. Cavaliers series.

In any other series, a 3-0 score would have already lost its appeal, but the popularity of this series is only getting higher and higher.

The Emperor vs. the King – this duel is incredibly captivating.

And then there's public opinion.

Trailing 0-3, most Cavaliers fans, in a reasonable mindset, knew that there was no hope left.

They only won once in four regular season matchups, and lost three consecutive playoff games, which meant they were already out of the game.

Even LeBron James himself did not give any interviews after Game 3, and his agent Rich Paul said the Kings were doing extra practice.

But there's a small group of fans who, as if possessed, are yelling about a comeback sweep, and these people just happen to be incredibly loud...

To be honest, Yi Shui is actually a bit worried about this match. What if their Jewish neighbors pull some dirty tricks... After all, the 'new face of the black players' was handpicked by Stern himself. He's the one who made the decision, so they have to finish the match even if they have to kneel down.

Fortunately, his worries were unnecessary. After the game started at 6 p.m., the referee's calls were normal, especially for both sides. By the end of the game, both sides had 25 free throws.

James went on a rampage tonight. Perhaps he was being pushed by public opinion, or perhaps he simply didn't want to give up. He initiated nearly two-thirds of the team's 80+ offensive possessions with the ball, and he was also incredibly good at grabbing rebounds!
This was the first time Yi Shui had seen James fight so hard for offensive rebounds, grabbing 8 offensive rebounds in a single game!

只不过命中率……33投13中，其中三分球12中2，加上9中5的罚球，拿到33分18板7助攻2抢断……以及6失误。

Although the efficiency was not high, everyone could feel their fighting spirit and unwillingness to give up.

But of the Cavaliers' other four starters, apart from Zydrunas Ilgauskas who played diligently, the others seemed to have lost their fighting spirit. Mo Williams took responsibility for the loss in Game 2, and Delonte West took responsibility for the loss in Game 3, and neither of them wanted to play one-on-one anymore. Even Ben Wallace, after being criticized for his poor help defense and double-teaming, had completely lost his fighting spirit...

Hickson, who came off the bench, seized the opportunity to score a playoff career-high 17 points, and backup point guard Daniel Gibson also scored 15 points, but the two of them alone were clearly not enough to help James win.

尼克斯队这边，易水出场42分钟，13投7中，其中三分球6中3，加上4中4的罚球，21分，以及11板14助攻2抢断5盖帽！

鸟人15分9板、大卫-李16分8板、库里13分3助攻、杜洪5分6助攻、哈灵顿8分5助攻、大Q10分……

The Knicks, with everyone contributing, easily defeated the Cavaliers 101-93, sweeping the series 4-0 to advance!
(End of this chapter)