Champion, please stay!

Chapter 234, page 232: The Elementary School Student Who Bravely Stepped Forward

Unlike in the past, after the vote count was announced, a set of data was also posted.

As of the 23rd, Yi Shui had received 205 million votes, which was more than 20 votes less than Kobe's 231 million votes at the time.

From the 24th to the morning of the 30th, in just six and a half days, Yi Shui received 112 million votes, including 410,000 votes before noon on the voting deadline of the 30th!

Looking at this set of data, Yi Shui felt both thrilled and pleasantly surprised.

Kobe Bryant's buzzer-beating game-winner!
Hearing his teammates talking about it, Yi Shui looked at the male duck on TV and thought, "This guy really knows his stuff when it comes to creating these kinds of gimmicks."

Having successfully won the vote again, Yi Shui, responding to his teammates' requests, agreed to take them to Dallas for a fun-filled trip.

Cuban said he's going to organize the biggest All-Star carnival in NBA history, and he'll definitely have to bring everyone along to have fun.

He texted his parents and called his old teammates from university, making plans to meet up with them...

After hanging up the phone, Yi Shui asked Curry, "Stephen, the league invited me to the Three-Point Contest again. They must have invited you too, right? Are you still going?"

Curry: "Of course I'm going. I have to participate in the Rising Stars Challenge and my endorsement activities. It's boring to just watch you guys perform for the rest of All-Star Weekend. I've also accepted the invitation to the Skills Challenge... Are you still participating in this year's Rising Stars Challenge?"

Yi Shui: "I will go. My agent said that my participation will boost the ratings. However, I'm not competing for MVP this year. Do you want to compete?"

Curry's eyes lit up, but then he said with a sigh, "Our class has Rose, Westbrook, Mayo, and Beasley. It's going to be too difficult to compete."

Yi Shui rubbed his chin and said, "We can forget about teammates for now, we need to focus on winning first. The other team has Harden, Evans, Jennings... and Blair in the paint..."

Curry: "Yeah! If you just go out there to make your debut and then don't play anymore, that'll be tough, especially with that Evans, he's like a monster, I feel like he's even better than LeBron James in his rookie year... If we can't beat him, then you should play more in the second half. It doesn't matter who wins the MVP, as long as we don't lose to those rookies!"

Yi Shui raised an eyebrow. At this moment, he felt that he was on the same wavelength as a primary school student in one aspect—competitiveness.

He recalled the elementary school students during his peak years in the original timeline, who, even as the de facto team leader and with three championships in four years, failed to win the Finals MVP three times. Yet, in the following season, they still diligently ran their positions to create better isolation opportunities for Durant...

...

The fact that Yi Shui won the vote for the second consecutive time, while generating a lot of buzz, wasn't as shocking as last year's rookie vote-winning performance, and it also generated far less discussion.

But the joke created the buzz around "Yi Shui's buzzer-beating game-winner against Kobe Bryant to win the vote king title", and the topic became incredibly popular!
When I was browsing the news in the afternoon, I saw fans discussing the "last-minute winner" and it made me realize that Xiaohua (the company behind Xiaohua) also has its strengths in terms of marketing – creating even more sensational topics based on existing ones.

However, if the foundation has already been exhausted, then the jokes are not as good as those of Stu Jackson, who, like Stern, preferred a steady and methodical approach. The topics and highlights that were later forcibly created were all very poorly executed.

As evening fell, the Knicks hosted the Heat at home.

After the opening ceremony, Yi Shui and Wade exchanged greetings and pleasantries.

This season, Wade has had a pleasant experience playing against Yi Shui, having won both of their previous encounters.

Although there were many coincidences, the first victory came when the Knicks had just flown south from Toronto to Miami and were in poor form in the first half. He withstood the Yi River's comeback in the final quarter and won the game. The second victory came when the Knicks had the most congested schedule and were also plagued by injuries. He led the team to fight hard against the Yi River for three quarters and wore down the Knicks.

But a win is a win. The Knicks have just finished four games in five days, so he might have another chance to win!
Right now, Wade desperately needs a win, and it would be best if he could defeat the league-leading Knicks again.

Before Christmas, the Heat briefly climbed to fourth in the Eastern Conference, but by January, their ranking had plummeted, first overtaken by the Pacers and then by the Hawks.

In their last five games, they have only won one and lost four, bringing their record to 26 wins and 20 losses. They have been overtaken by the Celtics, who have just won three straight games, and have now fallen to seventh in the Eastern Conference.

Although Wade had a premonition that their roster was far inferior to that of the Pacers, Hawks, and Celtics, he was still unwilling to give up and wanted to make a comeback.

However, he wasn't under much pressure. Anyway, this season is just like that. As for the scoring leaderboard and team ranking, he'll just do his best to improve.

While those with large jaws are barefoot and unafraid of wearing shoes, those on the Yi River side face considerable pressure.

The progress of his 'Road to the Scoring Title' mission is not quite what he initially expected.

He originally thought the biggest challenge of this task was Wade, who, in terms of scoring ability, was undoubtedly the strongest player in the 03 draft class at his peak.

But in both matches, Wade didn't score a single high point!

In those two games, Yi Shui scored 46 and 45 points respectively; Wade only scored 32 and 30 points, averaging slightly less than his season average of 32 points per game.

Yi Shui felt confident he could achieve his goal of outscoring Wade, having led by a full 29 points in the first two games.

But what he cares about right now is not that, but that he lost the first two encounters!

Wade's leadership style is very different from that of Anthony and James.

When facing high scorers, Anthony likes to go head-to-head with them, and sometimes even Billups can't keep up. This can easily affect the team's offense, and Yi Shui will take advantage of this when the opportunity arises.

James is obsessed with statistics and insists on outperforming his opponent statistically, especially when he feels there is no hope of winning.

Wade, on the other hand, doesn't have these flaws. He doesn't care whether his stats are better than his opponents'. He's very keen to use his terrifying scoring threat to create better offensive opportunities for Conley and lead the whole team.

With his strong individual skills, highly mature playing style, willingness to sacrifice statistics for victory, and extremely strong competitive spirit, Dwyane Wade made the Heat a formidable opponent that even top teams dreaded, earning him the nickname "troublemaker."

Fortunately... Yi Shui looked at the other players on the opposite side.

Apart from Conley, Milicic, Haslem, and Beasley, the others are not worth mentioning.

In order to free up enough salary cap space to sign two max contracts this summer, the Heat have not made any serious acquisitions for the past two summers. They are the only team with salaries above the salary cap since the introduction of the mid-level exception, but who have not used up the allowance for two consecutive seasons.

They even went so far as to send away quality role players with long-term contracts in exchange for expiring ones.

Speaking of which, whenever Yi Shui feels bad because of his team's poor roster, he thinks of Wade now and Kobe back then, and he immediately feels better. Compared to when those two teams were at their worst, his teammates are already much, much better.

...

The match is about to begin, and the starting lineups of both teams have come onto the field.

Heat: Conley, Wade, Dorell White, Haslem, Milicic.

Knicks: Curry, Hughes, Yi Shui, David Lee, Ben Wallace.

Looking at Milicic's thick arms across from him... there's no potential that even a fortune teller can't uncover!

He recalled that when Milicic first joined the Heat last season, he weighed almost 130 kilograms and was quite overweight.

Yesterday, he saw in the scouting report that Milicic weighed 118 kilograms, lean where he should be and strong where he should be.

So far this season, Milicic has played 45 games, averaging 27 minutes per game, scoring 8.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 2.2 blocks, with a field goal percentage of 54.6%, setting new highs in all categories!

However, it's quite a pity that such a player has fallen to this level, and it's already a pleasant surprise that he has improved enough to be a starter for a playoff team.

As of now, Milicic is not yet 25 years old; to put it more broadly, he is the same age as others.

At 8 p.m. sharp, the referee blew the whistle, and the game began.

Yi Shui defeated Milicic to win the jump ball, giving the Knicks the first possession!
Curry advanced to the frontcourt and passed to Yi Shui on the right side of the top arc.

Dorell White closely guarded Yi Shui, with the defensive goal of limiting Yi Shui's pull-up jumper and preventing him from taking long-range stop-and-shoot shots.

Yi Shui pushed White aside with force, and White quickly pressed back up. Yi Shui seized the opportunity of the rhythm difference and broke into the paint.

Wade on the wing and Milicic under the basket quickly double-teamed them.

The Heat's opening strategy tonight is the same as in the previous two matches—focusing solely on Yi Shui!

Just as the Knicks made decisive choices on the defensive end, the Heat must also make choices on the defensive end when playing against the Knicks.

Compared to the rest of the Knicks' shooting, the Heat were more worried about Yi Shui getting hot. He's a player who scored 50+ points in his rookie year and has already had over ten 40+ point games this season. Wade blocked Yi Shui's baseline drive and Milicic covered the area above him, trying to force Yi Shui to pass.

But Yi Shui chose to quickly grab the ball, jump, and shoot backwards against Milicic's interference!
Curry, who had used the screen to flank around to the right to receive the pass, widened his eyes: Dude, you've only practiced for a few days, and you're already using it in the game?
Yi Shui stopped abruptly, grabbed the ball, and jumped. His rhythm was decent, but when he leaned back after the jump, Curry was already prepared to retreat on defense. It didn't seem like he could control his movement at all...

Just as Curry predicted, Yi Shui leaned back with a strong effort, but his posture wasn't well controlled. However, thanks to his outstanding core strength, Yi Shui maintained his balance as he released the shot and made the close-range fadeaway jumper!
Curry let out a muffled groan.

Having great talent means you can do whatever you want!

Even though he hasn't quite mastered the fadeaway jumper, he still manages to use his height, wingspan, and speed to score a fadeaway jumper over a 213cm tall center who has already come to help defend!
As a teammate, Curry may have been secretly annoyed, but he was still happy when the ball went in.

Wade, who was caught in the crossfire, was completely distraught.

How long has it been? Less than half a month, right? This guy already has a way to deal with their '3 vs 1' defense!
The shot was hard-fought, but given the limited time and the Knicks' tight schedule, it's already quite remarkable that they managed to do this.

If it were him, he probably wouldn't have even figured out how to deal with it yet, and would only choose to confront it head-on and force his way through!
Wade's sense of urgency to "compete for a championship before Embiid reaches his peak" has intensified.

He took a deep breath, focused, and ran to the frontcourt to screen Curry for Conley.

The Heat initiate their offense with a pick-and-roll from the perimeter!

After Wade broke through, he forcefully cut into the middle lane. Even though Curry was exceptionally good at static confrontation, he couldn't withstand Wade's explosive power.

Conley, under tight defense from Hughes after a switch, came to the right side of the paint and passed the ball...

Milicic received the ball on the left side of the paint. Ben Wallace's cut to the basket drew Wade's attention to the middle, and Milicic received the ball, took a step, and slammed it home with both hands... "Thud"... "Bang"...

Yi Shui took a step to the right of the three-second zone and leaped high, slapping the ball that Milicic was pressing down onto the inside of the basket!

The basketball hoop was forced down by the combined force of Milicic and Yi Shui!

After the two players let go, the ball bounced high off the rim, and a scramble ensued under the basket.

Wade, unable to hold onto the ball amidst a crowded situation, poked it out of bounds.

Although he successfully prevented the Knicks from getting the ball and launching a fast break, Wade's pressure suddenly increased!
As one of the league's best offensive players, he only needed one possession to see that the Knicks' defense had undergone a qualitative change compared to their matchup just over ten days ago!
To say they were incredibly strong wouldn't be an exaggeration; it's just that their interior defense was riddled with holes, reducing them to a passable level.

But this is already very disadvantageous for the Heat. They won their first two games by attacking the basket. In those two games, they scored a total of 103 points in the paint, which was close to half of their total score of 218 points.

Their inside offensive capabilities, apart from him and Beasley, are actually not that great; they rely purely on the opponent's poor defense.

It just so happens that in those two games, Ben Wallace was rested in one and injured in the other...

Wade had heard about Ben Wallace's importance to the Knicks' defense, but he never expected that a 35-year-old veteran who couldn't even play 20 minutes of full-time every game, who was short and couldn't jump as high as he used to be could be so effective!

The Knicks won the ball in the backcourt and entered a half-court offense, continuing to launch attacks through Yi Shui's individual plays.

In the first possession, both offense and defense were unexpected, but Wade still insisted on leading his teammates to execute the established defensive strategy.

First and foremost, we must ensure that things don't get chaotic!
However, he made some adjustments, blocking ahead of time to give Milicic better conditions for aerial interference.

The triple-team of Wade, Milicic, and White forced Yi Jianlian to score.

Hughes receives the ball on the sideline and passes it again.

Curry, using Ben Wallace's screen on the left high post, received the ball on the right side of the top arc and took a three-pointer... but missed.

Wade secured the defensive rebound, and they did a good job defending this time, which was a gamble that paid off. The opposing team had just finished playing 5 games in 7 days and only had 1 day of rest, so their shooting was just as bad as in those previous games.

But when the Heat went on offense, Haslem cut in to receive the pass, and his jump shot from the three-second sideline was also disrupted by Yi Shui!
With Ben Wallace watching over Wade, Yi Shui can focus on defense in the paint. He can easily shut down Haslem and Milicic's offense!
In the transition between offense and defense, Yi Shui continued to launch an attack from beyond the three-point line. This time, he used a fake move to successfully trick White into pressing forward. He twisted his waist and stepped out with his right leg, blocking White's right waist, and then broke through the middle!

Conley moved in advance to block, forming a perimeter with Wade, who was collapsing on the right side, and Milicic, who was pressing up under the basket.

Yi Shui grabbed the ball and tossed it behind his head. Curry moved into position with perfect timing and, before White could switch on defense, quickly launched a three-pointer from the right side of the top arc... and it went in!
5 is better than 0!

When the Heat were on offense, Wade immediately asked for the ball.

Maintaining defensive stability is crucial. Spoelstra fielded his best defensive players in all five positions in the starting lineup, demonstrating a clear defensive tactical objective and strong execution. This choice was sound.

The defense was pretty good just now, White made the necessary adjustments, it's just that Curry made a mistake and scored.

But the attack is really troublesome!

The opponent's defensive performance in the last round confirmed Wade's suspicions: with Ben Wallace back, their role players can no longer easily score easy baskets, especially when both Wallace and Yi Shui are at their best at the start of the game.

However, given Ben Wallace's defensive approach, Wade concluded that he could only play a maximum of 20 minutes, and considering his long absence due to injury and recent return, the opposing team's coach, James Harden, might further limit Wallace's playing time...

Wade made a quick decision and switched to one-on-one passing mode!
The effect was immediate. Conley, using Haslem's off-ball screen, received a pass from Wade on the left sideline and hit a three-pointer, responding to Curry's call.

But then, something unexpected happened to Wade.

Yi Shui didn't continue to respond with a one-on-one pass, not because he didn't want to, but because he ran out of the ball...

Curry waved Yi Shui to the wing to create space and then set a screen with Ben Wallace to launch an attack!

The team's killer move is the leader's isolation play, but if it's overused, it becomes a routine attack. Besides, the opposing team also has a killer move in isolation, Wade. If we only look at isolation plays and passing, the leader might not be a match for Wade. Scoring is the leader's strength... So, the player who considers himself the second-in-command needs to step up during regulation time! Save the leader's energy for more crucial moments!
Despite being severely limited by Conley and Haslem's pick-and-roll offense in the previous two games against the Heat, Curry did not back down and made decisive moves to drive, pass, and shoot.

Curry leads the offense, Hughes provides support on the wing, Ben Wallace cuts in to pressure the defense, David Lee receives mid-range support or cuts in for easy baskets... There aren't many highlights, the main one is 'fast', fast passing and fast shooting.

Even with Yi Shui drawing attention away from them, the Knicks' offense, centered around Curry, was only average against the Heat's strongest defensive lineup, and was completely suppressed by Wade's isolation plays and passing.

But this approach wasn't entirely useless. Curry led the way in missing shots, and David Lee and Hughes were also willing to take them!

In the first two encounters, the Heat were hesitant to shoot from the outside because their outside shooting was too poor, and the ball ended up in Yi Shui's hands. When Yi Shui initiated the attack one-on-one, the pace would always slow down, and they would gradually fall into the Heat's rhythm.

This time, the speed has picked up!

Once the rhythm picked up, the Knicks found their rhythm and launched counterattacks. Most importantly, David Lee and Hughes, who had been missing shots, started to find their accuracy!
With 6 minutes and 22 seconds left in the game, David Lee made a low-post isolation play and passed the ball to Yi Shui, who moved around to the free-throw line to receive it.

Hughes screened for Curry and was left wide open by the opponent, pulled up to the corner, received the ball and hit a three-pointer... and it went in!
The Heat called a timeout!

Starting with the play where Wade drove and dished to Conley for a three-pointer, the Heat went on an 11-4 run against the Knicks, taking an 11-9 lead.

But Curry and Hughes found their rhythm in time, hitting two consecutive three-pointers to give Curry a 6-2 run and take a 15-13 lead over the Heat!
As the game went into official timeout, Wade walked toward the bench, glancing back several times, this time looking at Curry.

Because Yi Shui was too dazzling, and Wade himself was a superstar, when playing against the Knicks, he rarely paid attention to other players, only focusing on this opponent of the same level.

But tonight he has to turn his attention to Curry.

After making 1 of 2 three-pointers to start the game, Curry missed two consecutive three-pointers, including a close-range floater. However, after making 1 of 4 three-pointers, Haslem was a little slow in his defensive pick-and-roll move, and the second-year player simply pulled up and shot, and it went in! He even ignited Hughes' three-point shooting as well!
Wade himself only took 5 shots in half a quarter, while this second-year student took 6 shots in half a quarter!
The key point is that they scored the same number of points. He made 3 of 5 shots and got 6 points, while Curry made two shots and also got 6 points!
He thought of one of his former backcourt teammates—Damon Jones.

That former teammate was very good at using his threat to take long-range shots from the outside. He was fearless against any opponent and had a 45%+43% shooting percentage. He really enjoyed playing with Damon Jones.

Unfortunately, they only played together for a year. After Damon Jones proved his worth, the Cavaliers offered him a lucrative four-year, $16 million contract.

At the time, they had brought in Antoine Walker and Jason Williams, bringing their total salary to $6000 million. Matching their contracts would have meant paying the luxury tax, so they had no choice but to let them go.

The NBA can no longer find this person.

The Curry before us is a deluxe version of Damon Jones, but with the offensive organization ability that Damon Jones lacks.

Wade even saw Nash's shadow in Curry!
Every time the game becomes a half-court offense, Curry starts moving his teammates into position as he advances the ball. Once in the frontcourt, Curry or the player he passes to can receive the ball and immediately launch an attack!
In Wade's view, this seemingly insignificant detail is the key to Curry's ability to lead the team to set the pace of half-court offense and defense!

(End of this chapter)