Champion, please stay!

Chapter 209, Section 207: Crushing the 'Strongest Starting Lineup'!
Some Hornets players are starting to lose their composure.

They scored 6 points in 5 possessions, making 3 of 5 shots. Although they weren't very efficient due to the lack of free throws and three-pointers, it wasn't bad either.

可对面，易水4投4中加上1中1的罚球拿到9分、吸引夹击分球给吉布森拿到两分，5个回合拿到11分！
This reminded them of Game 4 in the first round of last season, where they played well in the first half of the first quarter and were leading by one point, 15-14.

But after the official timeout, Anthony suddenly went on a scoring spree, making all four of his shots, including 3 for 3 from the field and 2 for 2 from the free-throw line! Then Billups hit a three-pointer while Anthony drew double teams, and the Nuggets went on an 11-0 run, going from trailing by 1 point to leading by 10.

Then the Nuggets went on a 22-1 run in the first half of the quarter, ending with a 58-point deficit.

Now, they're facing a similar situation!

The newly arrived Okafor sensed a sudden drop in the atmosphere among his teammates, and even Paul seemed flustered and a bit confused.

So what if they were outscored 11-6? They have the ability to respond with a 5-point run of their own, is it really worth it?
Then, Okafor realized that not only his teammates were panicking, but head coach Byron Scott also seemed to have lost his composure, and substituted him and Peja early!
What happened to the promise that he would only play 15 to 18 minutes in the first half and 18 to 21 minutes in the second half?
Moreover, at 32 years old, Peja can only maintain his form for a maximum of 27 or 28 minutes per game...

Although I don't understand it, Okafor is a player who follows instructions very well on the field. He executes whatever the coach asks him to do very well.

After the timeout, the Hornets returned to their starting lineup; on the other side, the Knicks brought in a combination of Curry, Hughes, Barnes, Yi Shui, and Gibson.

The Hornets are on offense, and Okafor posts up against Gibson.

Okafor's hard drives weren't powerful enough after his major injury, and his skills stagnated due to a wasted two-year development period. However, he still had a firm grip on rookie Gibson, whose body reacted faster than his brain, and made a steady hook shot.

But just as Okafor made his shot, Yi Shui, who had failed to double-team him while pulling into the paint, grabbed the ball that bounced off the floor, stepped out of bounds, and passed it to Hughes... and charged!
Gibson in the middle and Barnes on the right are two physically imposing men who pose a threat when they charge in, keeping most of the Hornets' defensive players in the paint.

Yi Shui slowed down and moved to the left side of the top arc after reaching the frontcourt, blocking Paul.

When Paul bypassed Yi Shui and arrived at the top arc, Curry had already received the pass from Hughes and was ready to shoot.

Paul lunged forward, jumping high, but Curry, with his high confidence in his shooting and excellent ability to judge the interference of defenders, ignored Paul and launched a three-pointer... and it went in!
On the sidelines, D'Antoni, his face flushed red, clapped excitedly.

With such a clear lead, their playing style naturally needs to change, shifting from directly confronting the opponent to maintaining their lead.

How to defend? Offense, of course!

Such a response would be considered completely contrary to the natural order by other teams, and neither the chief assistant coach nor the defensive coach would agree to it.

However, with the Knicks, the lead assistant coach is the head coach's older brother, and his abilities are mediocre. In terms of coaching, he's just imitating his brother's style but not mastering it. His only advantages are his sports background and strong organizational skills. The defensive coach only handles pre-assigned tasks, and the consultants aren't traditional coaches either...

After their rise last season, the team's "offense-first" philosophy has become ingrained in their bones, and their execution is terrifyingly strong!
With 6 minutes and 22 seconds left in the game, Yi Shui circled around to Peja and grabbed the offensive rebound from Curry's missed three-pointer in a set play, then scored on the second-chance opportunity.

With the Knicks leading 50-39, the Hornets extended their lead to 11 points, prompting the Hornets to call a timeout.

Okafor has a 'bad habit': he's particularly 'unenthusiastic' when it comes to rebounding on the defensive end and likes to box out for positions.

He is a rare player whose offensive and defensive rebound ratio can reach or even exceed 1:2. In the first 12 games of this season, he averaged 4 offensive rebounds per game, leading the league, surpassing Randolph and Howard, but only 6 defensive rebounds. So far in his career, he has averaged 3.6 offensive rebounds per game, but only 7 defensive rebounds.

The Bobcats players have gotten used to Okafor's style of play and have benefited greatly from it. From the team's first year, no matter how bad their record was, their defensive rebounding has consistently ranked in the top ten in the league.

Only three centers in the league have had such a performance throughout their entire careers: Duncan and Yao Ming.

Before the 06-07 season, Howard did not do a good job of protecting defensive rebounds. In the first two years of his career, he seemed to have a lot of defensive rebounds, but his actions for grabbing defensive rebounds were exactly the same as for offensive rebounds. Even if the ball fell on his teammates' heads, he would still jump up to grab it. This resulted in him having a lot of defensive rebounds, but the opponents also grabbed a lot of offensive rebounds. The Magic lost the most defensive rebounds in the league for two consecutive years.

After training with Ewing for a summer in 06, Howard developed defensive rebounding and positioning awareness. Everyone said that Ewing was just ripping off the Magic by becoming Howard's trainer and didn't teach him anything. But Howard did learn some basic defensive concepts.

After the timeout, D'Antoni brought in a lineup of Duhon, Webster, Yi Shui, David Lee, and Birdman, and then went for it!
To the Knicks' surprise, the opposing team switched to a lineup with one big man and four small men!
Paul, Devin Brown, Posey, Peja, Okafor... and they've started playing offense too!
Yi Shui was surprised. The opponent's starting lineup, with its integrated offensive and defensive style, actually had the upper hand in the three minutes before the official timeout. Their run-and-gun lineup struggled in half-court sets, and it was only thanks to his offensive rebound that they barely maintained a double-digit lead.

The opponent continued to play steadily, and he wasn't really confident that he could break through their defenses.

Unexpectedly, the opponent abandoned their strongest fighting style and started running and attacking.
Little did he know, Scott had already lost his composure.

D'Antoni's adjustment after the first quarter turned out to be a lucky accident!

In Game 4 of the first round of last season's playoffs, after Anthony and Billups scored 11 points in a row, Byron Scott made adjustments, replacing the newly substituted rotation with the starting lineup, playing a steady and defensive-first approach. As a result, George Karl on the opposing team started a run-and-gun offense without any regard for the consequences, and after an 11-0 run, they went on an 11-1 run. The Hornets couldn't stop him on defense and couldn't make their shots, falling behind by 20 points in the first quarter.

The Knicks scored 20 points in half a quarter. At this moment, just like before, how could Scott not panic?
The media and fans, seeing the 58-point deficit, mocked Paul.

But in the coaching world, Scott suffered even more ridicule and mockery than Paul. His status among coaches in the league dropped significantly. People said he could do nothing but play point guard. Some management said that at most they would ask him to go back and develop point guards, and then they would change coaches when it came time to compete for the championship.

Even he himself was made insecure by that game. He worried that if their offense stalled again and the opponent launched a fierce counterattack, they might be able to score 20-0 or 21-1 in half a quarter.

The opposing team is a run-and-gun team with an even stronger offensive firepower than the Nuggets! They have already 'broken' the record for the largest point difference in playoff history, and Scott doesn't want to 'break' the record for the largest point difference in the regular season as well. His choice is to increase the offensive firepower!
If it's just a matter of going head-to-head on offense, the Nuggets might be able to beat the Knicks, but the Hornets... have absolutely no chance. Even if they have a good shooting touch from the perimeter tonight, it's still impossible because the Knicks are still in the hot shooting form they've been in since the start of the season!

The Hornets scored 19 points in the second half of the quarter, totaling 33 points in the quarter, bringing their halftime score to 58 points.

But the opposing team scored 21 points in the second half of the quarter! With one big man and four small men, and without David West or Sangaila to help Okafor cover the wing, their defense, whether in half-court sets or fast breaks, was completely torn apart by the Knicks' fast-paced offense!
71比58，尼克斯队单节轰出了41比33的比分，将领先优势扩大到13分！
In the third quarter, the shooting touch of the role players on both teams began to drop. The Knicks only scored 27 points, of which Yi Shui scored 14, 9 of which were scored by one-on-one plays.

Normally, this quarter should be the period when the Hornets take the lead with their league-best starting lineup. As long as the rotation time is arranged properly and they stick to their integrated offensive and defensive style of play, they are fully capable of keeping the Knicks' score even lower.

However, their poor adjustments in the second quarter cost them the chance to turn the tide. They only scored 23 points in the quarter, and the Knicks led the Hornets 98-81 after three quarters!
At 10:25 p.m., the final whistle blew.

With the score at 28-24 in the final quarter, the Knicks, riding high on their momentum, continued to suppress the Hornets, who were playing haphazardly, and slaughtered their opponents 126-105, extending their winning streak to 11 games!

易水首节11分、第二节15分、第三节14分、末节打了半节拿到5分……出场40分钟，30投17中，其中三分球5中2，加上10中9的罚球，狂轰45分，外加10板6助攻2抢断3盖帽！

Yi Shui wanted to make a run in the final quarter, but the opposing defense focused all their efforts on him!
Not long ago, he scored 26 points in the final quarter against the Nuggets, and the Hornets players were afraid that he would score his first career 60 points against them.

Another factor is stamina. They only rested for two minutes in the first three quarters and attacked fiercely. After the Knicks scored 18-9 in the first half of the quarter, they were substituted after the official timeout. The Hornets scored 15-10 in the second half of the quarter to narrow the gap to 10 points.

Before the game, Yi Shui, Curry, Paul, and Okafor, four stars with close personal connections, chatted in a good atmosphere. After the game... it can't be said that their relationship became so bad.

Seeing Paul's bewildered expression, Yi Shui suddenly revealed a smile that seemed to have seen through the world, then turned and walked towards the players' tunnel...

...

The lineup of Paul, Posey, Peja, West, and Okafor, touted as the 'best starting lineup in the league,' suffered their first loss! And by a mere 21 points!
The Knicks, having completed their massacre, continue to be the focus of discussion among fans!

开局11连胜，超过了96-97赛季最长的10连胜，创下了自93-94赛季拿到15连胜后，15个赛季以来的最长连胜！
In terms of starting winning streak alone, it is second only to the team's longest starting winning streak of 12 games in the 69-70 season.

The New York Times headline reads: "Are you still waiting for the future? The future is here!"

CNN Sports hosted a live broadcast at 11 p.m., inviting Patrick Ewing, who had watched the Knicks vs. Hornets game live, as a guest.

When asked what kind of results he thought Yi Shui could achieve this season, Ewing replied, "Our expectations for Embiid shouldn't just be a scoring title. That's too easy for him. He's like Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jordan, Bryant, Iverson, McGrady... He was born to dominate the scoring charts. In my mind, he's already the MVP."

Yi Shui returned home in the early hours of the morning and saw Ewing's interview clips and the New York Times' introspective on the 07 NBA Finals... That's more like it!
A while ago, when the boss treated the whole team to a meal, he said, "We live in the internet age now, and there's no limit to how much people brag online. We should keep up with the times." It seems the boss took it to heart.

The New York Times is still following the traditional approach.

But with a local sensation emerging, media outlets like The New York Times and CBS will likely follow suit.

While browsing the news, Yi Shui came across a list of their team's all-time winning streak, which started with a 12-game winning streak, a record they could potentially break.

至于69-70赛季的18连胜、88-89赛季的主场26连胜，难度有点大。

Tonight, the media is all praising them and flattering him. However, Yi Shui went through all the major portal websites and felt a little stingy... Why are all the headlines and pictures of Pao Ge's smile after the game?
Why couldn't they have let him receive the ball under the basket and dunk over Anthony? ... Fortunately, that play made today's top five plays.

He scored eight of the league's top 8 goals last season, and hopefully he'll score more this season.

The following day, on the morning of the 23rd, the league announced the new Players of the Week awards.

Yi Shui scored 35, 34 and 45 points in three games last week, averaging 38 points per game, and was selected as the Player of the Week!
It's a shame he didn't get Player of the Week the week before last, when they were 3-0 and he had a 50+ game.

Because the Hawks won all four of their games in six days the week before last, with Joe Johnson scoring 41 points in both back-to-back games, stealing the Player of the Week award.

In the Western Conference, following Anthony and Stoudemire, Nowitzki became the third player to win the Player of the Week award.

However, after winning the award, Yi Shui noticed Nash's data while browsing the internet.

After the game against the Lakers, Nash played less than 30 minutes in both of the back-to-back games, while Dragic played 20 minutes and 19 minutes in the two games respectively.

Both of these floor-bound point guards are in excellent health, playing every game since the start of the season, with their playing time being split evenly.

The Suns played two weak teams back-to-back and lost one, bringing their record to 10 wins and 2 losses.

Nash and Stoudemire's playing time is not high, and it is even decreasing. Give more playing time to second-year players Dragic and Jordan. Coach Alvin Gentry is a good coach!
After a day of rest, on November 24th, the Knicks defeated the Hawks, who had a great start to the season, at home, tying their franchise record of 12 consecutive wins at the start of the season!

(End of this chapter)