NBA: The Basketball Miracle

The assist rules were not modified in the 1997-1998 season.

After catching the ball, shaking off the defense and then dribbling through to complete a layup were not counted as assists.

But at this time, for the point guard, it is actually very simple to get good assist data.

He just needs to score and let the center receive the ball and shoot in the low post.

In the first quarter, Ewing was completely excited.

He positioned himself in the low post on both sides.

After receiving the ball, he encountered a tough top defense and quickly passed the ball back to Lee.

Then he continued to position himself without the ball, received the ball again, turned around and made a shot.

With just this one trick, the gorilla scored goals in the first quarter, and Larry Johnson was in a good mood.

Whenever the Hornets missed a shot, he would counterattack with a fast break.

Seeing Glen Rice miss the shot, "Grandmama" was completely relieved.

Since a huge score difference was opened in the first quarter, Jeff Van Gundy could rotate at will and give the new players a chance to debut!

The New York media has been hyping it up for a month, and fans also want to see the bench depth this season.

Chris Childs, John Starks, Chris Mills, Buck Williams and Chris Dudley took turns to play.

The Knicks didn't have their main players leading the team in the second quarter, but they still played well.

"Nice three-pointer! John is in very good shape. Maybe he will have a chance to win the best sixth man award again."

"This is the performance we expected. With a rotating lineup, we can still play an efficient offense!"

In the MSG commentary booth, legendary star Walt Frazier fell into a state of self-entertainment again, constantly praising the performance of the five players on the Knicks court.

"Wow!"

At 24:49, seeing the score gap continue to widen, the New York fans at the scene began to cheer loudly again.

The long-awaited rotation lineup has met the fans' expectations so far!

The New York media at the scene were relieved to see the team's efficient performance.

After bragging for more than a month, it feels good not to be slapped in the face.

Clay Lee on the bench whispered to Alan Houston:

"We are leading by a large margin. Let's shoot more three-pointers. Even if the opponent fights back, speeding up the game will be a good thing for us."

It's rare to encounter such a game, Lee feels that he must practice hard!

Excel can't lose. If he can't compete with those muscular guys, he is ready to learn from Kidd.

Alan Houston, who stayed at home with his wife every day during the offseason, maintained a good state and also practiced some three-pointers.

He also readily accepted Lee's opinion:

"Paint, free throw line, three-point line, I watched the ESPN program's analysis of you, the secret of efficiency! This season, I also plan to emulate it."

Jeff Van Gundy, who was on the sidelines, was still calling on his players to pay attention to defense.

Several new players were slow to return to defense and were yelled at by the bald young coach.

Perhaps due to tactical reasons, the Hornets tried to speed up the pace of the game but still failed to play an efficient offense.

Dell Curry, the scorer on the bench, was chased by Starks until the official timeout.

The efficient shooter made 1 of 3 shots and only scored 2 points.

Most of the Hornets' points during the rotation came from center Matt Geiger.

Head coach Dave Cowens did not blame the players, saying that it was normal to be slow to warm up.

27:53, the game is about to enter garbage time.

Lee stood up and bumped fists with his teammates one by one.

Although the New York Post article was a bit exaggerated, the current rotation lineup is indeed stronger than last season.

"It looks like we're going to get a big win in the opening game!"

New player Chris Mills is in a good mood.

Although he is a substitute, he feels much more comfortable watching the New York media praising him every day than in Cleveland.

"We can rest in the fourth quarter, which is a good thing."

Starks looked calm.

He had long been accustomed to the environment in New York.

Before each season starts, there is a lot of hype, and then these media will collectively suffer from amnesia and start jumping back and forth.

Perhaps some of the players who had just joined the team would smile with relief when reading the newspaper every day, but Starks had long been numb.

Lee looked at his teammates' reactions with a smile.

If he wanted everyone to play according to his rhythm, he had to understand the players' needs.

In the end, this opening game completely turned into a training game for the Knicks, with all the players appearing on the court.

Even Ben Wallace, the player at the end of the bench, got 8 minutes of playing time.

"Little Ben" scored 2 points and 6 rebounds in garbage time, which was a pretty good performance.

Jeff Van Gundy fulfilled the fans' wishes and showed the Knicks' rotation depth.

Putting aside the opponent's condition, the coaching staff also deserves credit for allowing all members of the Knicks to get into the game rhythm as early as possible.

90:112, although the Hornets tried hard to score points, the Knicks finally won the victory.

At Madison Square Garden, the fans cheered loudly, and at this moment everyone really believed the reports of the New York media.

In the commentary booth, Mike Breen smiled and introduced Lee's record after hearing the director's prompt in his headphones:

"Great game! I think this is the Knicks team that New York fans expect."

"Lee only played for 25 minutes, 14 points, 3 rebounds and 19 assists!"

"While setting a single-quarter assist record, it also tied the record of 19 assists set by John Stockton in the opening game of the 1989-90 season."

"At 19 years and 304 days old, Lee continues to create his own record after the start of the new season!"

Walt Frazier on the side also started to swell up at this time:

"This reminds me of the New York team that won the championship that year. Stay healthy, and we will make it out of the East and make it to the finals again this year!"

"."

Larry Johnson had a great time tonight, playing 28 minutes, shooting 10-of-14, scoring 24 points, 5 rebounds, and 1 turnover.

When he returned to the locker room, he said loudly:

"I'll treat you before the away game and hold a welcome party for Three Chris!"

There are three players named Chris on the Knicks, and "Chris Combination" is their new nickname.

Glen Rice made 3 of 13 shots tonight and scored 11 points from free throws. It was a rare occasion for the "Grandmama" to completely defeat her opponent.

This season, Larry Johnson's salary is 8.46 million US dollars.

As the second highest paid player on the team, he naturally has to reward his teammates.

Of course the atmosphere group likes to eat and drink for free, and immediately offered flattery:

"Larry is the real star, Glen Rice is not good enough this year!"

"."

Ewing was grinning on the side. The gorilla was not stupid.

He got a high salary, so his stats had to match.

He ate the ball first, then the low post, and finally got a few free throws.

His efficiency was explosive!

He played for 26 minutes, made 10 of 13 shots, 4 of 6 free throws, 24 points, 10 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 blocks, and 1 turnover.

After seeing this data, Ewing knew that the New York media would continue to praise him after the game!

Everyone was happy, and Oakley also smiled.

In addition to winning the game, everyone also received the news that the Bulls lost to the Celtics.

The championship team lost to a bottom-ranked team and its dominance is no longer there.

Lee didn't take many shots tonight, 5 of 8, 2 of 4 from beyond the three-point line, 2 of 2 free throws, 14 points, 3 rebounds, 19 assists and 2 turnovers, but in the post-match press conference, the New York media praised him to the sky!

In addition, Stockton was sidelined due to injury tonight, and the Jazz also lost to the Lakers, so the title of "No. 1 point guard" was thrown to Clay Lee again.

On the morning of November 1, in addition to the articles in the newspapers that praised the Knicks, Lee also noticed other information:

Stockton would have to rest for about a month after knee ligament repair surgery;

O'Neal also missed the Lakers' opener due to a knee problem;

Michael made 7 of 23 dunks and 16 of 21 free throws, scoring 30 points as the Bulls lost, and he became a "data brush" favored by the referee;

Tim Duncan made 6 of 9 shots in his debut, scoring 15 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks and 4 turnovers, and the Spurs' twin towers easily defeated the Nuggets;

Allen Iverson missed the opening game due to injury.

Ray Allen made 10 of 20 shots, 6 of 9 from beyond the three-point line, and scored 29 points.

The Bucks' outside firepower was fully utilized to win over the 76ers!

"If you get hurt during work time, you have to recuperate during work time!"

Lee was looking at the news in the newspaper and suddenly thought of "paid shit pulling".

(A/N: Means slacking off and not taking offseason training seriously)

Not every player has high professionalism.

There are many players who enjoy life during the offseason and then get back into game shape during the regular season.

Glen Rice was probably just too excited and was in poor form in the first game.

In the afternoon training session, the Knicks players were full of motivation, and Jeff Van Gundy was very satisfied with it.

Media reports are not important, what is important is the players' attitude!

"Keep it up! Everyone, stay alert. We're going to widen the gap in wins in the first month!"

Jeff Van Gundy gave encouragement while shouting loudly and the assistant coach continued to direct the players to run tactical routines.

The offensive routine was not complicated.

Oakley provided off-ball screen for Lee in the elbow area, while Ewing made a hand-to-hand pass in the blocking area on the same side.

After Lee receives the ball, theoretically there may be three offensive options:

Ewing receives the ball, Oakley receives the ball after setting a screen and being unguarded, and Lee attacks with the ball himself.

This season, the coaching staff has added more three-person strong-side offensive routines.

Although the tactics are common, they are useful.

The coaching staff is responsible for designing the routines, Jeff Van Gundy is responsible for motivating the players, and when it comes to the game, everyone is responsible for seeing how the routines turn out.

The center's positioning and catching the ball is also a technical job, and Ewing is a little uncomfortable with it.

After handing off, there are always some small problems with the timing of cutting in.

Last season, Ewing's usage rate dropped to 28.4%, a significant drop compared to the previous 31.5%.

After years of playing as a core player, Ewing had long forgotten all about the forward stuff, but in order to score efficiently, the gorilla did practice actively.

Running tactics and practicing routines is actually very boring.

In addition, some players always listen in one ear and forget the other, and can't remember what the assistant coach said.

After the afternoon training session, the atmosphere team complained in a low voice:

"This is a college training session, we don't play like this a long time ago!"

Lee has no problem with this. His usage rate is gradually increasing.

Ben Wallace has no right to complain about this.

"Little Ben" works extra hard in training:

"Don't think about assisting the offense. As long as you can grab rebounds, you can get more playing time."

Ben Wallace nodded silently after hearing what Lee said.

It was his dream to become a super center like the gorilla, but the reality was that he could only be a super blue-collar center.

He was the last one to leave every training session.

Lee looked at the unknown Ben Wallace and could only give him encouragement.

As an undrafted player, he was indeed not welcomed.

On November 2, which happened to be a Sunday, the Knicks played against the Pistons at home that night.

The New York fans who came to watch the game thought it would be another big win tonight, but in the end the Knicks won with a bumpy victory.

92:98, led by Grant Hill, the Pistons almost turned the tide, but the Knicks finally won.

At 34:50 at halftime, the Knicks led by 16 points.

However, in the second half, Grant Hill's free throw ability was amazing.

In the fourth quarter, he scored points continuously and almost tied the score.

Ewing was tormented by the front defense throughout the game, and finally made 6 of 15 shots and 6 of 10 free throws, scoring 18 points, 13 rebounds, 1 assist, 5 blocks and 5 turnovers.

The mediocre performance naturally did not meet the expectations of the New York media!

On the morning of the next day, several print media began to consume Ewing again:

"David Robinson made $12.4 million this season, Olajuwon made $11.16 million this season, and Patrick Ewing made $20.5 million."

"The Knicks should probably not give the 34-year-old Ewing a big contract. Such a premium contract may become the biggest obstacle on the road to winning the championship!"

"."

As the chairman of the players' union, Gorilla's cannot cut salaries, and the management has long been dissatisfied with the players' high salaries, so they seized the opportunity and started talking about labor-capital issues again.

After the morning video class ended, Lee saw that the gorilla had a dark complexion and knew that he had also read the morning newspaper:

"It's not easy to enjoy the dividends of a big ball market"

(The offseason chapter is over~)

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