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The Knicks team was beaming, but Yang Rui saw some hidden dangers during the winning streak, which was Ewing's physical exertion.

In order to help Ewing brush up his statistics and compete for the MVP, the coaching staff allowed him to continue to increase his playing time, averaging 37 minutes per game. In a few games against underdogs, it was more thrilling to win, and he relied entirely on perseverance and experience. Fortunately, Ewing's style of play is now on the outside, otherwise he would have been in danger.

After defeating the Trail Blazers and Rockets and achieving 20 consecutive victories, the Knicks lost 101 to 102 at home to the underdog Warriors.

Ewing was in terrible form. He played 40 minutes and scored 14 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and 5 fouls. The two sides played an overtime, and Donyell Marshall made a lore shot, which made the Knicks' entire efforts useless.

Yang Rui once proposed to play underdogs and give Ewing a rest, which was jointly opposed by Van Gundy and Ewing. They both worried that too many core rests would affect the MVP selection and record.

Even though they lost, the media still praised the Knicks. They broke the team's winning streak record. The previous record was 18 consecutive victories created in 1969-70. This result is tied with the 1970-71 Bucks for second place in history, second only to the Lakers' 33-game winning streak in the 1971-72 season.

Entering the first game in March, the Knicks beat the Lakers 101 to 89 at home, completing the sweep of the regular season.

Ewing's 26 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists overwhelmed O'Neal's 19 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists, and Houston's 32 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists finished off Eddie Jones with 15 points.

The Lakers have four All-Stars and are amazingly popular. They are also regarded as the favorites to win the championship, and the media Qua Nix spared no effort.

However, the Knicks lost to the Nets 93-100 on the 3rd, and lost to the Wizards 99-103 a day later. After two consecutive losses, the record became 60 wins and 8 losses.

The Nets are currently eighth in the East, losing four games more than the seventh Cavaliers, and are most likely to meet the Knicks in the first round. After the win, the few Nets fans saw a glimmer of hope for an upset.

Back-to-back away games against the 76ers, the Knicks only narrowly won 87 to 80, and everyone began to realize that the Knicks were in trouble.

In Yang Rui's previous life, in 2016, the Warriors broke the record with 73 wins in the regular season. Bogut, the oldest starter, was 31 years old. He was not a veteran. The other stars were very young and had obvious physical advantages.

Even so, the Warriors had physical problems in the second half of the regular season. The players were not focused enough, had too many heads-ups, and took rotations in some uncritical games.

The average age of the Knicks is older than that of the Warriors. Yang Rui has no way to deal with this. He arranged tactics, and the rest can only be looked at by the players. No one can help them maintain their state on the court at all times.

On March 8, the Knicks played against the Bulls at home and lost 95 to 102.

Pippen came back to add a strong scoring point, the Bulls run the ball, and the defense is better than in the past. Starks of the Knicks continued to be in a sluggish state, shooting less than 30% from the field for four consecutive games. This time he made 4 of 16 shots.

Seeing Starks' various shots on the court, the fans were impatient. Yang Rui discussed with Van Gundy again and let the role players rotate to ensure physical recovery in this way, otherwise it will be more difficult to play in the playoffs.

Van Gundy refused to agree at first, but now the team is playing in a mess and has lost 9 games. He has no other way, and he can't do it if he doesn't listen to Yang Rui.

The sudden decline in the player's state has something to do with Van Gundy's great pressure method. He often talks about the record, hoping that the team can follow suit. If the coach tells the players that "regular season records are not important, winning the championship is the key", it may have better results.

After Yang Rui discussed with Van Gundy, Van Gundy changed his mind when mobilizing.

"Guys, forget about the Bulls' record. What we need to do now is to train for the playoffs with a calm mind, run more tactics, and reduce individual singles. The playoffs are the key."

In addition to decompression,

The team also adopted a rotation strategy, allowing Starks, who was in poor form, to enter the injured list.

The guy was in a messy state and was unwilling to rest, so he jumped on the spot angrily, saying anything he wanted to do, and yelled at Yang Rui a few times. "What the hell did you come up with? Score the fuck in the second quarter without me?"

"Don't you think you need to adjust recently? Your average field goal percentage has dropped below 40%." Yang Rui responded with facts.

Starks was unreasonable at all, and shouted: "I have played such a short time, how can I find the touch?"

Yang Rui tactfully retreated behind Van Gundy. It is very troublesome to communicate with the prickly players. This should be the job of the head coach, not his fault.

Yang Rui feels that the relationship between players and coaches should be like the relationship between teachers and students. It is only natural for students to respect teachers. But in the NBA, there is a special relationship between coaches and players, which is not so easy to do.

The stars are more famous and paid more than the coaches. If the big-name players are unhappy, they can change jobs easily. Others will rush to get them. The coaches should not just say that they can control these big players. It's easy, in addition to knowing tactics, you also need to know coaxing skills. If you can't handle the players, no matter how good the tactics are, you can't use them. If you don't, the coach will be fired.

In the NBA, conflicts between players and coaches often occur in various forms. In addition to fighting, most of them are angry, arguing with each other, coaches punish players and suspend games, serious player swaying, internal strife and so on.

There have been more famous things in the past two years. For example, the Magic originally hoped to build a team around Hardaway and O'Neal, but O'Neal left for Los Angeles. Hardaway began to be dissatisfied with Magic coach Ryan Hill's coaching style, and encouraged other players on the team to blame Hill. Soon after, Hill was fired by the team.

Even more outrageous is the Warriors star Sprewell. This season, he was fined to sit on the bench because he didn't listen carefully to the tactics. He was late for training and missed the plane for the away game.

The conflict finally erupted during a practice. Carlesimo told Sprewell to be serious, but "Madman" didn't like the coach. Carlesimo's authority was challenged. He walked up to the "madman" and continued to yell at him. At this time, the "madman" couldn't help it, and grabbed the coach's neck for more than 10 seconds before being pulled away by others.

Then the "madman" left angrily, but he ran back after a while, and he punched the coach a few times without saying a word, before leaving. The punishment for this impulsiveness was a suspension of 68 games and a salary deduction of more than 6 million US dollars, the most in the NBA.

Van Gundy talked hard and softly, and finally let Starks understand that the playoffs are the stage to play, and he is willing to rest for two games.

Yang Rui watched the whole process and was firm on one thing. In the future, when he becomes the head coach, he must have enough power to speak, control the right to trade and draft picks in his own hands, and find players who are easy to communicate and control.

People like Starks who have countless black spots, who mainly rely on convulsions to perform and cannot see their position clearly, are fine when they are in good condition, but they are cancerous when they are not in good condition. If Yang Rui made the decision, he would have been sent away long ago, and he would definitely be able to get someone better in exchange.

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