Basketball's most talented forward is on the left

"Three games in a row! Three games in a row! The Knicks went from taking the lead at the beginning to being overtaken and then reversed! The Knicks narrowly beat the Thunder, Durant missed the buzzer beater, and the Knicks were able to continue their winning streak!"

When the buzzer sounded at the end of the game against the Thunder, Knicks fans finally came to life.

The sky is clear and the earth is clear, I finally won!

Not to mention the fans, the commentators were all shocked. Barkley wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said, "This game is really exciting."

Kenny Smith sighed: "Indeed!"

The camera was focused on the court, and Durant's expression was obviously regretful and unconvinced. Yes, they almost won.

During the post-game interview, Westbrook also said frankly: "Next time we meet, we can win!"

No wonder Westbrook is so arrogant, as if he has forgotten the fact that he was brutally beaten before. The main reason is that the Knicks have been playing too hard recently.

This was three games in a row, with almost the same script. I don’t know which screenwriter Jiang Langcai had done, and the final winning score dropped all the way, from 6 points to 2 points and then to 1 point tonight. The Knicks

It's really only one ball away from losing.

The overall performance of the players has also declined a lot. Except for Zuo Li, in fact Zuo Li has been considered the savior of the Knicks in these games. His performance of 40155 in three consecutive games made him stand out among the abnormal Knicks players, and he

His performance at critical moments is also obvious to all.

An ESPN program...counted Zuo Li's key performance in these games: "In these three games, Zuo Li averaged 10 points in the fourth quarter, with a maximum of 15 points, and averaged 9 offensive rebounds per game.

Times, three times more than second place Howard! The true shooting percentage in three games reached 76.5%, leading the league."

"On average, there is only one turnover per game... This is very low for Zuo Li, who averages 5 assists per game and has such a high proportion of personal offense."

"These data have reached the top of the league, and their performance is even better than the two months last year."

"The most important thing is that Zuo Li basically scored 95% of the last-minute scores in these three games, and he scored the go-ahead goal in every game."

"This is why the Knicks can still win consecutive games even though their players are performing so averagely!"

That's right, the next step is the performance of other Knicks players. You don't know it until you look at it. You will be shocked when you look at it. Many people's data has suffered a serious decline.

For example, Danny Green, who had performed well before, made 2 of 14 three-pointers in three games, which is an impressive feat.

Beverley averaged 5 fouls in three games, including being sent off for six tonight.

Although Curry still averaged 13 points per game, his shooting percentage dropped by 15%, and his three-point shooting percentage was only 34.2%.

These three people are just a microcosm. Others, such as David Lee, Ke Liu and others, have also declined to varying degrees. Only Randolph is still stable, averaging 18 points and 7 rebounds per game, filling the gap around Zuo Li.

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Such a performance will naturally be criticized. At the end of the program, several hosts also bluntly said: "If we continue to play like this, the Knicks will not be able to go further by just relying on one person on the left."

And soon, this sentence seemed to be confirmed from the game.

On January 11, the Knicks visited Philadelphia, the Eastern Conference club, to play against the 76ers.

This game is very different because it is the first time ai has played against Zuo Li after returning to Philadelphia!

Gu Shuo

Zuo Li and Iverson played against each other once last year, and that was the only time the two played against each other.

That was when Iverson had just moved to the Pistons. The Pistons, who were still in their honeymoon period, were very powerful and caused enough trouble for the Knicks.

Iverson also once made Pistons fans think that they had a chance to return to the top because of his outstanding performance.

However, things did not develop as people imagined. At the end of the regular season, due to dissatisfaction with Pistons head coach Michael Curry's decision to demote him to the bench, Iverson broke with the team. The Pistons management used the excuse of injury. Illness excluded him from the squad.

In the following offseason, on September 9 this year, Iverson accepted a one-year, $3.5 million offer from the Memphis Grizzlies. Memphis became the fourth stop of Iverson's career.

However, Iverson only played three games in total with the Grizzlies, all as a substitute. He averaged 22.3 minutes per game and contributed 12.3 points and 3.7 assists to the team. He shot 57.7% from the field and walked 12 times. He hit 6 free throws, but the Grizzlies finished last in the Southwest Division with a record of 1-5. Two months later, Iverson was waived by the Grizzlies.

Then on November 26, a frustrated Iverson announced his retirement. However, before people had a chance to express their feelings, Iverson withdrew his decision to retire just one day later.

This retirement farce also woke up all the fans who loved Iverson deeply. They had to admit that Iverson was no longer a superstar in the league at this time. He had lost his speed and was aging faster than people imagined. , he has lost his dominance on the court, and at the same time, he has also lost his status in the league team.

At this time, all fans understand that, like many superstars in the final years of their careers, the only way to stay is to wander.

Perhaps it was for this reason that the unruly Iverson could not restrain his emotions and announced his retirement.

Time goes by and never comes back, no matter how strong a star is, he will eventually grow old one day.

However... the subsequent stories reflected one of the few warm faces of this business league. On December 3, 2009, Iverson announced that he had signed a one-year non-guaranteed contract with the Philadelphia 76ers and Andre Iguodala. Let's fight for the playoffs together and promise to return to the competition again.

On that day, Iverson, who once again wore No. 3 in Philadelphia, burst into tears at the press conference.

The boy from Philadelphia finally returned to his hometown.

Iverson's return seems to have given the 76ers a backbone. They have won 6 of the last 10 games and are currently ranked seventh in the Eastern Conference. Although Iverson's statistics are not what they used to be, he has become a key player in the locker room. The leader has raised the 76ers to a higher level.

Iverson's popularity is still overwhelming. In the previous two rounds of All-Star voting, he has always ranked first among guards.

Therefore, this battle with Zuo Li also attracted much attention.

For Zuo Li, he is also looking forward to this game, because only if he plays against Iverson in Philadelphia is he can play against the real Iverson.

And Zuo Li, who was aware of the subsequent historical development, understood even more that this might be the last time the two of them faced each other.

Therefore, Zuo Li was very excited as soon as this game started. He played singles inside, made mid-range shots, forced fouls, and shot unreasonable three-pointers. Zuo Li surprised everyone by scoring 17 points in the first half of the quarter.

Although Iverson, who came off the bench, was not as good as before, he always led the team in his own way...using assists that he rarely used, keeping the 76ers from falling behind.

Not only that, in the second quarter, Iverson also hit a tying three-pointer, which was considered a turning point in the game.

Then, it was the same plot again. Taking advantage of the Knicks' mediocre touch, the 76ers launched a counterattack, establishing a 7-point lead in the third quarter and holding on to their advantage in the fourth quarter!

102-100, the Knicks lost to the 76ers in an away game, ending their winning streak that started last year!