Champion, please stay!

Chapter 206, Section 204: The Elementary School Student Secretly Working Hard
An hour after the Knicks narrowly defeated the Pistons in overtime, the Suns' away game against the Lakers ended in Los Angeles.

Kobe Bryant hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer with 2.3 seconds left on the clock, turning and floating out of bounds to give the score 110-108, sealing a victory over the Suns and ending their nine-game winning streak.

When Yi Shui returned to the hotel and saw the news, he remembered something: it seems that Kobe had 6 true game-winning shots this season, tying Carmelo Anthony for the most in history with the 05-06 season.

I wonder if his newfound high-class image will affect this... Anyway, I've already taken a hit.

The Suns started the season better than he expected. If it weren't for Kobe Bryant at his peak in both physical attributes and skills, they might have broken Nash's career-long winning streak of 15 games. In the first 10 games, the Suns defeated top teams such as the Trail Blazers, Mavericks, Spurs, and Magic. The opponents in the last 6 games were mainly weaker teams.

Yi Shui opened the Phoenix Suns' homepage and looked at the data table.

Xiao Bawang averaged 23.9 points per game in 10 games, two points higher than last season. His shooting percentage soared by 6 percentage points to 59%, returning to the level of the 07-08 season. Moreover, his playing time was reduced, averaging only 32 minutes per game.

Having watched the live stream of the Suns vs. Trail Blazers game, I noticed that Stoudemire's biggest change this season is that he no longer needs to stay on the court to create space after he's tired.

However, in terms of rebounds, excluding the 05-06 season when he was sidelined with injury, Stoudemire averaged a career low of 7.8 rebounds per game.

Because of Nash's influence, DeAndre Jordan averaged 8.2 points and 8.8 rebounds in 25 minutes per game, with an impressive 67% field goal percentage, ranking first in the league.

This kind of tall player with excellent mobility and obedience to instructions was too easy for Nash to develop, provided there wasn't a dominant center with space under the basket...

Yi Shui thought of a center who ruined Wall's career - Gortat. Before meeting Nash, he averaged 4 points and 4 rebounds per game. After meeting Nash, he averaged 15+ points per game. The Suns used him to fool the Wizards and got two first-round picks in return. The Wizards even extended his contract with 5 years and $13 million in 6000 when the salary cap hadn't taken off yet. That contract is now considered a bad contract in the era of the salary cap.

The only good thing about Gortat's contract was his "dedication"—he played every single game until the Wizards traded him in the final year of his contract to clear cap space.

With the addition of DeAndre Jordan, the Suns have improved their rebounding on both ends of the court and their center's ability to finish plays has become stronger. Yi Shui wonders if this will have an impact on the league's landscape... However, in the game against the Lakers, DeAndre Jordan fouled out early on after being repeatedly attacked by Kobe and Bynum, and his defense was still too rough.

Excluding the game against the Lakers, DeAndre Jordan averaged 3 fouls in 25 minutes per game in his first 9 games, which is higher than the fouls per unit time of Dwight Howard and Marc Gasol, the two foul kings.

But with the Suns opting to bring in DeAndre Jordan, their offensive firepower is definitely stronger, and it's hard to say who will be number one in the Western Conference this regular season.

When Yi Shui browsed various portal websites, all the news about the Knicks was full of praise, even from the media outlets that didn't get along with them... It was really hard to get used to.

Little did they know, the heads of those media outlets were now in a real bind.

Before the season started, they praised the Knicks highly, listing four teams in the East that could win 60 games, and the Knicks were one of them;

When listing the candidates for the top scorer, Yi Shui was ranked first;
After learning that the Knicks were focusing on defense, people touted the Knicks as having a well-rounded offense and defense in the new season...

The Knicks have had an amazing start to the new season!

10 consecutive wins!

易水也爆了，10场比赛拿到348分，只有3场比赛得分低于30、有两次50+！

Moreover, his shooting percentage is extremely high, averaging 12 out of 22 shots made per game, a shooting percentage of 54.5%!

His three-point shooting percentage was slightly lower than last season, with only 20 three-pointers made in 10 games, but he only attempted 45 shots, resulting in a 44.4% success rate! The reason he shot fewer shots is that the opponents defended him more closely on the perimeter, giving him better opportunities to drive and cut to the basket, allowing him to perform more efficiently on the rim.

The Knicks' defense is starting to look promising. They've allowed an average of 103.2 points per game in 10 games. It's not amazing, but it's a significant improvement compared to last season when they allowed over 107 points per game.

The Knicks' consistency has also improved significantly, as evidenced by their game against the Pistons. Hamilton exploded for 30 points, the Pistons' bench also performed exceptionally well, breaking through the Knicks' defense. The Pistons' overall defense was also solid, but the Knicks withstood the Pistons' offensive onslaught by varying their team offense and using their star players' individual plays, forcing the game into overtime and ultimately winning thanks to their roster depth.

The most painful thing in the world is when you praise your enemy to death, and your enemy comes true on top of the boasts you made...

…The next day at noon, Yi Shui returned to New York with the team, and Curry wanted to invite Yi Shui to go to the opera together.

A primary school student has recently become obsessed with this. He wants to become a true New Yorker and live a more 'refined' life. He sought advice from David Lee, an old-timer in New York, who told him about the things he loved to do in his student days, and he started to imitate him.

But Yi Shui refused, saying he wanted to practice more.

Curry asked, puzzled, "Didn't you say yesterday that you didn't want to practice after the away game?"

Yi Shui did say that during yesterday's warm-up: the schedule in November is good, and after this away game, there are two rest days before the game starts on the 22nd.

Yi Shui replied, "That was the original plan, but last night I saw Hamilton's slalom stop-and-shoot, it was so amazing and I was so envious. While I still remember it, I want to practice it."

Curry complained, "You envy everyone. You envy Arenas' pull-up jumper, Wade's drives, Kobe's fadeaway, Pierce's step-back... Now you even envy Hamilton. If those people knew you envied them, they'd probably gang up on you."

"Why don't you admire LeBron James' footwork? If you learned it, you'd be the best in the world."

Yi Shui shrugged: "How do you know I haven't learned it? I haven't learned it!"

Curry: "..."

He could tell that this guy was serious and might have actually practiced.

However, he did try, but he still didn't learn it.

He can imitate movements in a video, but he can't do it in real high-intensity training because the rhythm is beyond the reach of most people.

Seeing that Yi Shuizhen had no intention of resting, Curry also canceled his plans to see the opera and went to training with her.

A quick stop and shot while circling around cones is a tactic used in positional offense, which requires the ball handler to make accurate passes.

After Billups left, Hamilton's shooting percentage plummeted. It was 48% in the 07-08 season, dropped to 44% last season, and continued to plummet to 41% this season, which perfectly reflects Billups' control of the court.

For the Knicks, their half-court offense, the players with the ball are mainly him, Yi Shui, Harrington, Chalmers, and David Lee.

Hughes's positional warfare has become like that of a pitcher, while Duhon is not good at organizing offensives in positional warfare.

Among point guards, Harrington is a high-post playmaker, but his ability to compress the paint and defend is average, so this type of passing is not suitable for him.

That means only he, Chalmers, and David Lee have the opportunity to pass the ball to Yi Shui in a half-court offense when he stops and catches the ball to shoot.

A primary school student plans to secretly work hard and amaze Super Mario!
During the last dinner gathering, Yi Shui mentioned that he wanted Chalmers to serve as vice-captain after Ben Wallace's contract expired and he left or retired.

Curry didn't say anything at the time, but he was a little upset, even though Curry was sitting right next to him!
He's determined to get the vice-captain position!
However, during training together, Curry, who was in charge of the pick-and-roll drive, seemed a bit withdrawn.

How did Brother Bi's talent tree grow like that?
He could tell that Yi Shui had just learned the move of stopping suddenly to catch the ball, turning around, and shooting.

Previously, when Yi Shui ran into a screen to receive the ball and shoot, he would adjust his body after receiving the ball and then shoot. Such shots could be easily recovered by a more aggressive double-team defense. However, this new move is all about taking the ball out of the box.

It's obvious that Yi Shui, as a beginner, didn't do a good job of controlling his turn and shooting rhythm when receiving the ball at a sudden stop, but his shooting was actually pretty good!
Curry thought of Yi Shui's unreasonable pull-up jump shot, which seemed to be similar; he could shoot well after jumping without even trying to find the rhythm...

It wasn't just those people Yi Shui envied who wanted to beat him up; even elementary school students wanted to! And this wasn't the first time!
(End of this chapter)