Champion, please stay!

Chapter 245, Section 243: Thankfully, my teammates have brains.

After the match, Yi Shui finished his chores and returned home in the early hours of the morning.

He turned on his computer to read the news; tonight's game against the Heat was generating a lot of buzz.

The focus of the discussion was on him.

He scored 40+ points in all four regular season games against the Heat!

Secondly, Chandler received unprecedented attention.

The Knicks, based in New York and with the best record in the league before the All-Star break, made a trade involving a player with a multi-million dollar annual salary. People are definitely paying close attention to how Chandler will perform after joining the team.

今晚钱德勒打了25分钟，拿到8分10板1抢断2盖帽，得到了各大媒体一致称赞。

In his post-game analysis after the live broadcast of the game, Time Warner Cable Sports commentator Bill Walton commented on Chandler's performance in his first game with the Knicks: "I initially thought that the Knicks would have a huge improvement at the center position after acquiring Chandler, but the chemistry brought about by this trade has exceeded my expectations. They seem to have no need for adjustment and have played better than I expected."

What surprised me even more was that Chandler's addition unleashed Embiid's offensive potential, scoring over 40 points in just 29 minutes. Embiid reminded me of Kobe Bryant in those years..."

After watching the video, Yi Shui highly approved of it, praising the legendary center's sharp eye.

Regarding the benefits of acquiring Chandler to the team, he had only considered the defensive aspect, and the Mavericks were his benchmark.

David Lee can't expand his reach.

Anderson, who has excellent athleticism, is already 31 years old. He still has speed, jumping ability and explosiveness. When facing the opponent's second unit, he does a good job of short-distance sprint defense and block when close to the basket. However, he can't extend the defense to a greater distance.

This situation is very similar to Nowitzki in the original timeline during the 10-11 season, and he is a perfect match for Chandler.

Yi Shui hadn't really considered the role Chandler would play on the offensive end.

In his memory, Chandler's peak period only lasted for three years.

In those three seasons, whether with the Mavericks or the Knicks, Chandler didn't contribute much on offense.

Even when he was with the Knicks, Anthony needed to play power forward to create space so that Chandler could have opportunities to cut in and not become a liability on offense.

But during this game, Yi Shui realized something—his situation was different from Nowitzki's and Anthony's!
Nowitzki has never been a good defender; he has always only been responsible for offense.
Without the guidance of his two older brothers, Iverson and Billups, Anthony completely lost his defensive drive, and during his time with the Knicks, all he had left was offense.

Whether the defense of the team's center position is improved or reduced, it will not affect the offense of either player.

He was different. Previously, when Ben Wallace was substituted to rest, the burden of protecting the rim fell mostly on him.

Among the team's other big men, David Lee is a black hole; Birdman only has the ability to block and shut down shots in close range; Gibson and Swift only have some ability to defend one-on-one in close range, plus they rely on their running and jumping abilities to disrupt opponents' shots.

Now, with Chandler and Ben Wallace taking turns on the court, along with Birdman and David Lee who are of decent size, plus either Gibson or Swift, forming a five-man rotation, the team can guarantee that it has mid-level rim protection capabilities for 5% of the time.

This allows him to shed his defensive burden after the initial starting phase and focus on one-on-one defense and offense!

Of course, this is also related to the actual situation of their team. They do not pursue top-level defense, nor do they have the conditions to play top-level defense. Their requirements for defense are relatively low. They just need to ensure that the inside game is not easily destroyed by the opponent.

Moreover, when necessary, they don't care if their inside game gets destroyed, just like tonight when they faced Wade, a superstar whose ability to penetrate and attack the basket is among the best in the league.

...

The Knicks kicked off the second half of the season by defeating the Heat.

On the 26th, the team will host the Hawks.

The two previous encounters ended in a 1-1 draw, seemingly evenly matched, but the actual situation was quite different from the win-loss record.

So far this season, apart from two or three teams that have only played the Knicks once, only the Hawks have scored less than 100 points when playing against the Knicks.

In their first game of the season, the Knicks won comfortably 99-91. In their second meeting, the Knicks lost and limited the Hawks to 99 points.

Tonight, the Knicks played better defense than in the previous two games, limiting the Hawks to 37 of 88 shots, a shooting percentage of 42%, and holding the Hawks to just 88 points!
在易水遭遇严防死守、20投8中只拿到23分的情况下，尼克斯队靠着防守，以97比88力克老鹰队，拿下4连胜！

大卫-李拿到13分9板、钱德勒9分11板，库里今晚表现很特别，11投4中，只拿到13分，但拿到了赛季新高的13助攻！

Despite being double-teamed at Yi Shui, Curry made several good passes to Duhon, Hughes, and Webster on the wings.

In the last game, he scored 40+ points for the 15th time this season, raising his average score to 33.8 points. Tonight, he was outscored by 33.6 points. Yi Shui is a little disappointed, but since they won, it doesn't matter.

While Chandler's addition makes things easier for him on the defensive end, it doesn't mean he can't work together with Chandler or Ben Wallace, who take turns on the court, to improve the defense. Tonight, he didn't score many points, but he had 10 rebounds, 2 steals, and 4 blocks!

But they were able to defend so well tonight... After the final whistle blew, Yi Shui's gaze focused on the somewhat forlorn-looking White Devil on the other side.

The Hawks' defense remains excellent this season, ranking fifth in the league in efficiency and allowing only 94.5 points per game. However, their scoring average has plummeted compared to last season, to only 98.3 points per game, and their offensive efficiency has fallen below the league average!

The Hawks' offense has declined so drastically because White Devils have lost their form.

After their first encounter at the beginning of the season, the elementary school students were shocked. How could the White Devils suddenly become so weak? They couldn't make shots or seize opportunities to pass the ball. So far this season, they are averaging only 9 points and 3 assists per game, and their all-around performance is the worst of their careers.

As the engine of the Hawks' bankrupt Princeton offense, Bibby's performance collapsed, and the Hawks' offense collapsed as well.

However, Yi Shui felt that Bi Bi was quite pitiful about this.

Last summer, Bibby's seven-year, $80 million contract signed in 2002 expired. After the offseason began, the Pacers offered Bibby a three-year, $30 million contract.

Therefore, the Pacers did not immediately re-sign Randolph. At that time, the Pacers had $10 million in salary cap space while retaining Randolph's Bird rights.

However, Bibby rejected the Pacers' offer and, in order to allow the Hawks to successfully acquire Jamal Crawford, he took a pay cut and signed a three-year, $21 million extension. His salary in the 2008-09 season was over $14 million. Although he certainly wouldn't get that high an annual salary with the extension, the Pacers' offer of tens of millions was the price he deserved for his performance last season.

However, Bibby's voluntary pay cut did not yield good results. He was unable to perform as well as before and earned 300 million less each year. The key issue was that his pay cut allowed the team to acquire Jamal Crawford, who was incredibly strong against weak teams, but he always faltered against teams with slightly stronger defenses.

Just like tonight, Crawford was held to 3-for-13 shooting by Duhon and Chalmers, scoring only 7 points and committing 3 turnovers. He had no rebounds and no assists, dragging the team down as soon as he entered the game. Yi Shui believes that if Bibby had chosen to go to the Pacers, even with a drastic decline in their strength, his performance wouldn't have been this bad.

The Pacers have two superstars, Granger and Randolph, who can carry the offense, so Bibby doesn't need to shoulder the offensive pressure. He just needs to bring out his ability to control the game and organize the offense.

Furthermore, the Pacers play a traditional slow-paced half-court game, so Bibby's significantly reduced mobility won't have as much of an impact as it would in the Princeton offense.

However, from the perspective of their own team, Yi Shui was glad that Bibby did not choose the Pacers, otherwise this opponent would have been even more difficult to deal with!

...

After consecutively defeating the Heat and the Hawks, Yi Shui saw the media's comments on their two games—the Knicks avenged their previous three consecutive road losses on the South Coast.

This has also sparked a heated discussion – can the Knicks reverse their losing streak against Southeast Division teams this season?
He not only believes that the Southeast Division is the strongest division in the East, but when the media ranked the six divisions at the end of the first half of the season, the Southeast Division was also ranked second in the league, second only to the Southwest Division.

Four of the top eight spots in the East are from the Southeast Division!
The Magic finished second, the Hawks fifth, the Heat seventh, and the Bobcats eighth.

The Knicks have a losing record against Southeast Division teams this season.

The game against the Heat is over, with a record of 2 wins and 2 losses;
They have a 2-1 record against the Hawks and will face them once more.
They have a 0-1 record against the Magic and need to play them 3 more times.
They have a 0-2 record against the Bobcats and need to play them once more.

They have already faced each other 10 times, with a record of 4 wins and 6 losses. With 5 games remaining, if the Knicks want to 'turn the tide,' they need to achieve at least a 4-1 record against those 3 teams, which will be extremely difficult.

The Wizards were excluded at this point because they had lost all three games against the Knicks. If they were included, the Knicks' record against the Southeast Division wouldn't be so bad, and the topic wouldn't be as widely discussed.

Yi Shui also saw that Chandler was praised again, having scored in double figures on rebounds for two consecutive games!

The report stated that this was the first time in the past two seasons that a Knicks player, besides him and David Lee, had recorded double-digit rebounds in two consecutive games.

He was also pleased with this. Tonight, Chandler had less than 30 minutes of playing time and got double-digit rebounds. He did a great job in both offensive rebounding and defensive rebounding, and he easily got at least 3 rebounds by positioning himself well.

But it's also a bit disheartening that Durant, who is taller than him, only averages 7.5 rebounds per game, while the Thunder have a net advantage of 3 rebounds per game.

He's averaging 9.5 rebounds per game now. Before Chandler joined, the team had a net loss of 1.1 rebounds per game. The team had more rebounds, but they conceded even more.

This situation has finally improved!
However, Yi Shui also saw some discordant comments – Chandler had only been in the game for two, and some media outlets were already discussing who performed better, Chandler or David Lee!
These are two players with completely different tactical roles and functions, yet this part of the media insists on comparing and ranking them!
For a while, Yi Shui saw that some media outlets were constantly comparing him to Curry and David Lee, and making rankings. At that time, he didn't care at all; such attempts to sow discord couldn't affect him.

But this time the situation is different!

This season, David Lee is only the third offensive option, with an average playing time of only 31 minutes per game, and his statistics are not particularly outstanding.

Although Chandler was a substitute in both games, his role on the team was undoubtedly that of the defensive core.

The key is that Chandler is new, and people are excited about his arrival. They're tired of seeing David Lee consistently score 14 or 15 points and grab 8 or 9 rebounds per game.

This topic has really been stirred up by a few people with ulterior motives!

The next day at noon, before the team's training session, Yi Shui approached David Lee, wanting to talk about the matter and get some emotional support.

But he realized he had been overthinking it...

David Lee's response was: "Don't worry, I'm not one of those idiots. I know I'm probably not part of the team's plans. In this situation, what I need to do is not to go against the team or have conflicts with my teammates, but to show my team spirit to our team and other teams. That's what I need to do right now."

I saw those comparisons, and I don't think it's a bad thing; rather, it's an opportunity. If I can maintain my focus and performance in this kind of public opinion environment, it will actually improve my image as a player.

Yi Shui sighed with emotion, realizing how vast the differences were between people!

In the two and a half years he's been playing basketball, he's seen far too many players who aren't very bright.

Like Beast, throwing tantrums in the locker room or on the court when unhappy is the norm in the NBA.

Chandler earns a multi-million dollar annual salary and is content to do blue-collar work, without any desire to show off on the offensive end. He wasn't always like this. In his last two years with the Bulls, Chandler was notoriously bad and prone to making trouble. It was only after years of hardship that he became the tough guy he is today.

David Lee, aside from being drafted a little lower, didn't encounter any setbacks after entering the NBA. Although the team atmosphere was terrible in his first three years, he was able to hone his skills in an environment without any pressure to achieve results. No one blamed him for playing poorly as a rookie. After his development period, in his fourth year, he became the team's second-leading scorer and helped the team achieve 55 wins and reach the Eastern Conference Finals. It is very rare in the NBA to have such a basketball mindset in such a growth environment.

Yi Shui was fortunate that David Lee was a smart teammate; if it were Beast's brain instead, it was unimaginable what would have happened!
After a day of rest, February 28th, the Lantern Festival arrived. In the morning, Yi Shui ate some tangyuan (sweet rice balls) cooked by her mother. She felt happy but also a little sad because her parents, grandparents, and maternal grandparents would be returning to China tomorrow.

Fortunately, he finished the last game of his three-game home run tonight, and he'll be playing an away game tomorrow. Once he gets busy with work, he won't have time to be sentimental.

After breakfast, Yi Shui went to the stadium to train. Madison Square Garden was unusually lively today, even more so than when Wade came to visit a few days ago.

The king has arrived!

At 7:40 p.m., the Cavaliers entered Madison Square Garden first.

The fans at the stadium gave the Cavaliers a warm welcome, and they were really enthusiastic. When James entered the arena, many fans were cheering.

The Knicks players at the other end of the tunnel showed no dissatisfaction; on the contrary, they felt their fans were being a bit too 'arrogant'.

Yesterday, New York fans were already quite agitated, saying online that the Cleveland Kings were handing them another win.

These remarks enraged Cavaliers fans, escalating into a full-blown online battle between two massive fan groups that lasted all night and continues to this day.

There's a reason why New York fans are so 'arrogant'. Since March of last year, the Knicks haven't lost to the Cavaliers. They won both of their last two regular season matchups last season and swept the Cavaliers in the playoffs. In their first meeting with the Cavaliers this season, they almost had a massacre. They've already won seven straight games in the regular season and playoffs.

It wasn't just the fans who were overconfident; Yi Shui and his teammates were also highly confident and fearless when facing the Cavaliers.

However, during the morning training session, Yi Shui unusually showed a serious side, repeatedly emphasizing that they could not be careless.

After the opening ceremony, Yi Shui looked at the Cavaliers' latest record on the big screen—39 wins and 17 losses.

Since O'Neal's injury, the Cavaliers have won five straight games around the All-Star break!
(End of this chapter)