basketball scientist

Chapter 414: Historically known as the “Long Island Conference” (Please subscribe and support)

Author: Fan Xian Xiao Xianxian

Chapter 414: Historically known as the “Long Island Conference” (Please subscribe and support)

At 11 o'clock in the evening on January 24, at Madison Square Garden, the Knicks' back-to-back home games against the Bulls were coming to an end.

With another dunk by James, the score difference between the two sides widened to 18 points. With 4 minutes left in the game, there was no suspense about the outcome. James kept hammering his chest. This game

In the game, he once again scored a double-double of 31 points and 10 rebounds. Both his personal performance and leadership role were greater than those of his opponent Derrick Rose.

Different from the cheers of the fans, Ke Yan looked at James' wonderful performance on the court with an indifferent expression and no joy at all. It was in great contrast to his joy when Curry scored.

In this game, the Knicks played very easily. Or to put it another way, Rose's performance in this game was a bit abnormal. Perhaps because he was unwilling to be taken away from the All-Star starting lineup by Curry, Rose frequently made mistakes in this game.

In singles, he broke into the Knicks' interior and attacked the defense, but was blocked quite strongly.

After all, the defense of the inside line composed of Horford + West + James is not generally tough. Compared with Rose's own shooting threat and breakthrough threat, it is really not enough. In this game, he took 11 shots outside the three-second zone.

Only hitting 3 goals, such a shooting rate is really difficult to punish the Knicks.

The tactical thinking implemented by Thibodeau is "the defensive end is ever-changing, and the offense relies on Rose to carry the explosive package." In a tough battle, Rose cannot open up the situation, and the Bulls' offense as a whole is relatively difficult.

This is also the reason why Ke Yan regards the Lakers, Mavericks, Thunder, Magic and even the Spurs as opponents, but is not afraid of the Bulls. Boozer did not perform well in the Bulls. Apart from Rose, the team only has Ke Yan.

Lawford and Luol Deng are relatively strong "auxiliary offenses". The former is famous for being a "smart knife and a soft-footed shrimp in the playoffs." The latter's template is Pippen, but he is positioned like Pippen.

There is a huge difference in personal offensive and organizational abilities.

Moreover, Thibodeau's "fuck the main force" may be able to maintain the record in the regular season, but it will have no advantage at all in the playoffs. At the same time, the coach himself does not trust the substitute players. When injuries occur,

, I hope someone can stand up, stop dreaming.

For the Bulls who lacked outside firepower, it was really difficult to catch up with 18 points in the last 4 minutes. Ke Yan directly replaced Curry and arranged for Holiday and Matthews to come on the court to entangle Rose. With Thibodeau against Rose

Different from "incomparable trust", Ke Yan is "meticulously protective" of Curry, and nothing is more important than Curry's health.

When the Knicks also adopted a defensive formation on the court, the Bulls only scored a total of 12 points in the last 4 minutes. The final score was fixed at 104:90, and the Knicks won successfully.

opponent.

In the whole game, James scored 35 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists, and won a complete victory in the duel with Rose, the direct competitor for MVP. Facing the Bulls' "mad dog" defense, Curry was arranged to be a "secondary offense", reducing

He made 6 of 14 shots in the game and 3 of 7 three-pointers. He scored 19 points, 7 assists and 3 steals.

On the Bulls side, Rose scored 31 points and 7 assists, which is obviously better than Curry based on basic statistics. But if combined with the efficiency value, Rose made 9 of 27 free throws and 11 of 13 free throws. This offensive efficiency is really not outstanding.

After the game, fans of the two point guards also started a scolding war. Rose fans scolded Curry for only being able to shoot, having a soft style of play, a baby face, and no tough guy temperament; Curry fans scolded Rose for taking too many shots, having low efficiency, and being ugly.

Poor performance in the playoffs.

In fact, whether it's Curry's incredible top-down shots or Rose's blood-soaked changes of direction without slowing down, they are both highly entertaining styles of play. Fans on both sides don't really think the other side's play is ugly. However,

Well, many times, when it comes to issues of stance, the brain, eyes, and ears can be dispensed with. Just like at this point in time, it is impossible for Real Madrid fans to admit that Messi is better than Ronaldo; it is impossible for Liverpool fans to think that Ferguson is a great coach...

..

After the game, Key Yan and Thibodeau also shook hands and greeted each other. In fact, in addition to Rose's strong fighting spirit against the Knicks, Thibodeau was also full of dissatisfaction with Key Yan.

This season is the first time Thibodeau has taken charge, and he led the Bulls, who were in the middle and lower reaches of the league last season, to second place in the league. At the same time, a group of young people in the team have made great progress under his leadership. In any case,

This season, Thibodeau should be a strong contender for "Best Coach".

However, who made the Knicks' performance this season go towards a record of 72-10? The media and fans all agreed that as long as the Knicks can break the record, MVP, best coach and other honors should go to the Knicks.

of.

Although the standard is set very high, the initiative... after all, is in the hands of the Knicks.

...

After a day off, the Knicks welcomed the Toronto Raptors at home. Against a weak team, Ke Yan prepared to rotate James, but was rejected by the opponent.

The two people had constant conflicts off the court. Ke Yan's "several times" disobedience to James's wishes made James somewhat distrustful of him. Now, James has to scrutinize some of Ke Yan's decisions again and again.

OK! It's a player's duty to play. James refused to take a rest, but Ke Yan couldn't force it, so he let Horford rest for this game.

Ke Yan chose to take a step back. Unexpectedly, James didn't play well in the game. He didn't work hard on the defensive end. He didn't run or get stuck on the offensive end. He just played some simple shots and made 10 of 15 shots in the game.

, scored 22 points.

The damage caused to the team by James's majestic paddling on the court cannot be reflected by statistics. Adidas's advertising slogan has a sentence called "The game is for five people." This is really not chicken soup literature, but the real impact of teammates on the court.

Insights. When the Raptors can spare at least half of their resources to help defend others, and when other Knicks players have to constantly pay attention to a certain position on the court that may miss someone, the player consumption is much greater than usual.

.

The visual effect presented to fans is, "When James is not in good condition, the Knicks can't even beat the Raptors!"

James himself has experienced similar things. In the summer of 2021, the Lakers traded Westbrook and renewed Horton Tucker. These two ancestors made James realize what it means to "kill a thief with the intention but be unable to recover."

". He moved from the No. 3 position to the No. 4 position, and finally bit the bullet and took up the No. 5 position for the first time in his career. He ranked second behind Embiid in the scoring list. He almost tried his best, but Mao was useless.

The final result is that the three 75-year-olds cannot lead the Lakers into the playoffs. The C value of James and Big Eyebrow is lower than Bill.

The Raptors maintained the lead until the fourth quarter, but Curry turned on the day-to-day mode in the fourth quarter and made 4 consecutive three-pointers in just 3 minutes.

10 points!

After Curry took the shot, the morale of the Knicks team was greatly boosted, and the entire Madison went crazy. Taking advantage of this momentum, the Knicks team struck hard, helping the team finally defeat the Raptors 127:112.

Team.(38-5)

Six members of the Knicks team scored in double figures. Curry scored 31 points, James scored 22 points, Mozgov had a solid double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds, Korver scored 14 points, and West scored 12 points.

In the interview after the game, James was also asked about the reason why the number of shots in this game hit a new low: "I want to use my own influence to help my teammates score, but I also need my teammates to open up the offensive space for me. In this game

, my teammates have better shooting opportunities, and I am willing to give them shooting opportunities."

James talked about the issue of "offensive space" and was undoubtedly calling on the team to sign Jamison. In this regard, Ke Yan was noncommittal and still said "we are strong enough".

In the next four games in January, the Knicks defeated the Suns, Pacers, Bucks, and Wizards, improving the team's record to 42 wins and 5 losses.

James did not take more than 15 shots in the game. He scored 84 points in four games and was still struggling. However, compared to being caught off guard against the Raptors, Ke Yan, who was prepared, shortened James' playing time.

James only played about 32 minutes in each game, including the garbage time at the end.

"If you dare to paddle, I will not let you play!"

Without being able to go too far, Ke Yan tried his best to minimize the negative impact that James' paddling had on the team. At the same time, he was also under great pressure. As time went by, public opinion has

After the reversal, all major media and fan groups are questioning Ke Yan's decision, and even other teams are watching the Knicks' joke.

"Is Kimi stupid? If James wants Jamison, just give him Jamison. It's just a basic salary. Dolan will give you dividends from the money saved?"

"There are two jesters beside the emperor! Can't we just sign a Jamison and be the prince's accompaniment? Isn't this going to make people laugh?"

"If LeBron continues not to take action, maybe even if he breaks the regular season win record, Rose will be the MVP."

"Kimi-out!"

Fans only know how to satisfy or cater to James' expectations, but they don't know that the Knicks today are no longer a question of whether to sign Jamison, but "Ke Yan alone is in charge of the overall situation" or "Ke Yan. James takes the lead."

"The problem. To put it more broadly, it is when the "champion coach" and the "superstar" are put on the scale at the same time to compete for value.

What’s ridiculous is that it is James who is clearly hurting this team, who is clearly ignoring the experience of the New York fans, who is clearly blaspheming his identity as an athlete, but the vast majority of voices in the entire online world are attacking those who devote themselves to the Knicks.

Ke Yan, I have to say that this world has reached a very absurd point.

Once upon a time, Ke Yan believed in a saying that "in competitive sports, it is not the strong who wins, but the strong who wins." But now, the victories that Curry, Horford, West, Holiday and others desperately won are in front of the fans.

It's worthless. Only if James plays happily, takes more shots, and wins MVP can he meet everyone's expectations.

Although he had done enough psychological construction when he decided to fight against James, in the face of such an impact on values, even if Ke Yan, as a time traveler, has a much more mature mind than ordinary people, he would inevitably be injured. Even Ke Yan wanted to escape temporarily.

For a moment, I hope the All-Star Game will come as soon as possible and the Knicks can temporarily get out of the spotlight.

But his expectations were not fulfilled in the end. When the entire team was put on fire by the "party dispute" between Ke Yan and James, it was difficult for the players' condition not to be affected.

On February 2, the Knicks visited the American Airlines Center in Miami and defeated the Miami Heat 89:116, and the public opinion reached its climax (42-6).

For a long time, Ke Yan was able to suppress James and break the hand of Jimmy White who tried to interfere in the team's operations, relying on the team's record. But when the team cannot win, Ke Yan's greatest confidence no longer exists.

The disastrous defeat against the Heat was not only a defeat, but also showed that the entire team was affected by the outside world and was unable to devote 100% to the game. If the problem cannot be properly solved, not only will there be no hope of breaking the record, but it will also be more likely to fail.

The subsequent seasons had a more profound impact.

Therefore, after returning to New York, Ke Yan immediately came to Madison Company and had a two-hour long talk with Jimmy White; then in the afternoon, the two went to Dolan's estate on Long Island to meet Dolan.

.

On February 3, 2011, Dolan, White, and Keyan held a small meeting in a manor on Long Island. The meeting confirmed James' core position in the team and affirmed the basic principle that the league's superstars are the masters.

The goal of working together to win the championship pointed out the way forward, which was called the turning point of the Knicks' life and death in the 2010-2011 season, known as the 203 Long Island Conference in history. Since then, the Knicks have been on the right track that season.

Ke Yan, who made a huge "concession", did not gain nothing. Dolan agreed that he would advocate for Ke Yan in some of Ke Yan's future big plans and use his connections to help the other party obtain financial support.

...

After the "Long Island Meeting" ended, James seemed to have received some news from Madison's management and began to play normally on the court.

On February 5, the Knicks visited the Toyota Center to face the Houston Rockets. James made 12 of 21 shots in the game, scoring 30 points, 6 rebounds and 9 assists, announcing his return.

After the game, when interviewed by the media, James also talked eloquently, completely forgetting his ugly appearance after the past few games.

After this game, everyone with a discerning eye knew that Ke Yan gave in.

One day later, the Knicks visited the American Airlines Center and faced the Dallas Mavericks, who had defeated them, and went on a killing spree. Curry defeated Kidd point-to-point and scored 32 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists in the game; James efficiently scored 27

With points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists, the two teamed up to help the Knicks win a big victory (44-6).

In the last two games before the All-Star break, the Knicks defeated the Jazz and the Pacers respectively, ushering in the All-Star weekend with the best record in history of 46 wins and 6 losses.

One day after defeating the Pacers in an away game, Ke Yan held a press conference at Madison Square Garden and announced that he was officially resigning as the team's general manager and would resign as head coach after the season and leave the Knicks.

"In the next half season, new colleagues will lead the team's operations. I will concentrate on leading the team to play well and will no longer participate in any matters related to team management." Although at the Long Island meeting, Ke Yan and Dolan

An agreement of "peaceful breakup" was reached, but when it came to the press conference, Ke Yan was still a little resentful.

Of course, his tone is irrelevant at this time. The most important thing is that the news of Ke Yan leaving the team after the end of the season is enough to explode!

No matter how much the media and fans put pressure on Ke Yan, they never questioned Ke Yan's ability or thought of forcing Ke Yan to leave; they even subjectively did not believe that Ke Yan would leave. After all, the Knicks offered Ke Yan a salary of

Unprecedented, no other team can do it!

"Including this season, I have been working as a head coach for more than six consecutive years, less than seven years. I feel like an empty battery. There is no more power to supply. I need some time to

Recharge your batteries; I have been married to my wife for three years. Apart from China and the United States, we have only visited Germany, New Zealand, and Japan. I hope that while we are still young, we can accompany her to more places.

Go; my daughter was born in May last year, and I hope to have more time to accompany her growth; I don’t know when I will come back and in what form, but I hope...

I hope everything goes well for the Knicks."

(End of chapter)