The Pope of Basketball Community

In the locker room, Van Gundy said solemnly: "Jerry, go to the press conference with me later. I plan to tell the media that it is your idea to reuse the substitute. You have the most credit for winning the game today."

Yang Rui smiled. Although Van Gundy is stubborn, he also has many advantages.

First of all, he is a workaholic. He often eats and sleeps in the arena. Everything he does has a great appeal to the players.

Secondly, he is chivalrous and courageous.

In Yang Rui's previous life, on May 30, 1998, the Knicks had a conflict with the Heat players, and Van Gundy immediately ran into the court to fight. In order to protect the players, he hugged Mourning's thigh tightly in desperation, and was dragged a few meters away on the floor by the mighty Mourning. Since then, Van Gundy has been nicknamed "The Hammock".

On January 15, 2001, during the Knicks-Spurs game, Camby was stabbed by Spurs forward Ferry. In a rage, Camby rushed towards Ferry at the edge of the scorer's table, but when he was about to punch, Van Gundy had already stopped the two of them, and Camby's punch was empty, but his iron head hit firmly. On Van Gundy's left eye socket. In the end, the Knicks beat the Spurs, but Van Gundy needed 12 stitches for his injured left eye.

Now Van Gundy has not made a heroic feat of fighting, but it is also righteous enough. When he loses, he dares to take responsibility, and when he wins, he will not take all the credit for himself.

Yang Rui smiled and asked: "Is there anything I should pay attention to? What can't I say?"

"Low-key, the question about grades is vague." Van Gundy sighed.

Without Yang Rui, he would never dare to use rookies like this. The result of the game was unexpected. The Knicks won very simply, and the rookies also had many bright spots.

The press conference became a commendation meeting. Van Gundy praised Yang Rui, and players Atkins, Ewing, and Houston praised even more.

"Jerry is my spiritual mentor. He taught me how to play correctly, give full play to my strengths, and make up for my shortcomings." Atkins, who scored a career-high 25 points in 22 minutes of playing, is indescribably grateful to Yang Rui verbal expression.

If Atkins was born in the Ming Dynasty, he would definitely build a shrine for Yang Rui and call him Nine Thousand Years Old...

Van Gundy was embarrassing at the press conference. I really want to ask Atkins, is he the head coach or am I the head coach?

Many reporters interviewed Yang Rui, and most of them asked boring tactical questions.

Yang Rui answered very easily, he didn't say anything arrogant, and he didn't show pride or complacency. It's only a quarter of the season, and they haven't secured the first place in the regular season.

Focusing on offense, the Knicks started winning again, defeating the 76ers, Pistons, and Cavaliers one after another. After winning 4 consecutive victories, the Knicks will challenge the Bucks in back-to-back away games.

On the morning of the 21st, the coaching staff had a meeting, and there were serious differences. Yang Rui suggested that the core players should rest for the entire game.

"Let Patrick take a break, and this game will not be played? He is not injured only because of back-to-back? Are you crazy?" Van Gundy asked.

Yang Rui said seriously: "I'm not crazy, I just want Patrick to rest for a while, he played too long yesterday."

Ewing played 38 minutes and scored 28 points, 13 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 blocks in a quasi triple-double, which was very eye-catching. However, in order to defend against "Big Z" Ilgauskas and "Rain Man" Sean Kemp, Ewing expended a lot of energy. The Knicks won 104 to 97, and it was not easy to win.

Van Gundy hummed: "If you tell Patrick, he will definitely be angry and won't agree to rest."

"I can talk to him and persuade him to rest. Otherwise, he won't be efficient in this game. Don't forget that his statistics this season are very important. After two days of rest, he can guarantee his best state when he returns home to play the Mavericks. .Then play one game after four days off during the Christmas break, which is to protect him." Yang Rui explained.

"You think of him too fragile. He is the core of the team. Have you forgotten that the Knicks label is iron-blooded? They dare not play back-to-back games.

What kind of tough guy? "Van Gundy didn't back down.

Yang Rui knew that no matter what, Ewing couldn't take risks in this game.

In his previous life, in a December 21 game against the Bucks, Ewing suffered a serious injury that could destroy his career.

The Bucks averaged 2.7 points and 2.7 rebounds per game. Andrew Long, a backup center, pushed him hard from behind in order to prevent Ewing from receiving the ball.

Ewing fell to the ground, resulting in a fracture of his right wrist. Along with torn ligaments, his bones even pierced his skin. One of the four major centers was just crippled by a low-level guy.

After Ewing's surgery, the recovery period was long, and his right wrist could not be fully moved for a long time. Even if he was full of determination to recover and return to the game next season, he also lost his precise jump shot.

Yang Rui has seen that things have "historical inertia" and knows that Bucks center Andrew Lang is not a good guy.

"Jeff, I suggest calling the management and asking them what they think. Our goal is not to break the Bulls' record of 72 wins in the regular season. As long as we get the top spot and Patrick gets the numbers, that's enough." Yang Rui made a big move , take advantage of the situation.

Thibodeau was silent for a while, and decided to side with Yang Rui.

"Jeff, I also suggest calling the management. If Patrick is tired in this game, the data will drop. The Bucks' Elvin Johnson is a big man who is good at defense."

The two assistant coaches said so, and Van Gundy was unwilling and unable to insist on calling Ernie Grunfeld to report to work.

After listening to the narration, Ernie made a decision within five seconds. "Then let Patrick take a truce. The Mavericks are an underdog on the 23rd. That game will increase Patrick's playing time and help him brush up his statistics."

"Will this affect Patrick's image?" Van Gundy thought: Boss, you promised too simply, right? Will the coaching staff let Jerry decide in the future?

Ernie said with a smile: "This is easy to handle. I will contact the media to publicize that Patrick has always had a knee injury. This game is very uncomfortable, so he can't go into battle with the injury. In addition to his knee, he also has to suffer from a bone spur on his right foot... No Some people say that he is soft, and it doesn’t matter if he takes a rest.”

Van Gundy has nothing to say, the management is very concerned about Ewing's data.

This is the most basic means of publicity. In the future, there will be stars wearing sneakers with bone spurs off the court, walking on crutches, and basically saying goodbye to bicycles, but they can play for nearly 40 minutes as soon as they play, and they can shoot all kinds of difficult shots against people, but they don’t Pass the ball to able-bodied teammates.

Van Gundy hung up the phone and sighed: "Jerry, you won, Ernie agreed to take a break, and you are responsible for convincing Patrick."

"No problem, thanks." Yang Rui smiled.

Thibodeau also laughed. He is now on the same front as Yang Rui, and he believes that Yang Rui's decisions are all right, and the record speaks for itself. Thibodeau wrote down the matter of the rotation in the coaching experience notebook when he was about to go home, and learned a new trick.

At lunch, Yang Rui asked Ewing out to chat alone.

Ewing was really tired. He played 30 minutes per game to ensure his efficiency, and his average of 35 minutes per game was too much. When he heard that he would rest in order to ensure data, he immediately agreed.

If you want to say who cares most about data and honor, it is naturally the person involved. The tough guy Ewing, for the first time in his career, took a break because of data swiping!

P.S.