The rest is just noise

Next, the Knicks encountered Mark Eaton's hot pot feast in Utah and lost by 6 points, losing their second game.

The next opponent is the Portland Trail Blazers.

The Lakers are rebuilding, and there is an obvious conflict between Scottie Pippen's style of play and Magic. Therefore, it can be safely said that no team in the West can stop the Trail Blazers from reaching the top.

The Knicks, who are focused on defeating the Celtics, naturally have to find an imaginary enemy they may encounter in the West.

The pioneers are the ones with the most potential.

As in past years, during the regular season, the Trail Blazers relied on their unparalleled athleticism to triumph, and the only team to defeat them was the Phoenix Suns.

The game between the Knicks and Trail Blazers will begin in three days.

In these three days, the Knicks welcomed back Dell Ellis, the starting No. 2 pick in the past few years.

At that time, Louis was in the office. After Ellis returned to the team, he was of course the first person to say hello.

Ellis didn't say hello to anyone before coming back, so Louis didn't know about it.

His sudden appearance left Louis a bit at a loss.

"Are you fully recovered?" Louis asked.

Ellis told the truth: "The doctor said I will lose some movement ability, which is irreversible, but I will find a way to overcome this problem."

Seeing him like this, Louis thought of a lot.

When Ellis first arrived, and in the years that followed.

It is undeniable that Louis is very comfortable with Ellis as a player.

However, beneath his taciturn appearance, there is a devilish soul.

Louis wasn't sure he wanted to experience coaching the devil before Rodman's dark side awakened.

"I believe you can recover, but during your layoff, Reggie Miller, our rookie this year, played as good as you in the starting position, and his chemistry with Benj was also very good. I can't

Because you have recovered, I will let you replace him."

Ellis was silent.

"And, seriously, Dale, you disappointed me."

Louis once viewed Ellis as part of the Knicks' long-term plans, but not anymore.

Unless he can prove that he can do well off the bench.

"I know, coach."

"No, if you knew, you wouldn't do those bastard things!" Louis said sternly, "You think you know everything, you think you understand everything, but you know shit, you don't know anything.

I gave you many opportunities, but you failed to grasp them and turned a deaf ear to my words! I don’t care what psychological problems you have, this is my last warning to you.”

"If you do something wrong again," Louis said mercilessly, "I will trade you."

Ellis' return requires Louis to re-adjust his lineup.

In fact, it turns out that this rotation schedule has created a good enough chemical reaction.

Maybe they don't need Dale Ellis at all.

But Ellis was one of the first Knicks players identified by Louis as the team's future, and Louis will still give him a chance to prove himself.

If he can continue to play on the bench, that would be the best.

If not, the trading schedule will have to be moved up.

No matter what, Louis must be prepared.

He called Baylor and informed him that starting today, he would put Dale Ellis on the shelf and use the Knicks' publicity department to let other teams know that Ellis was no longer for sale.

The day after Ellis returned, Louis asked Tomjanovich and Phil Jackson to organize a match.

It's still a battle between Ewing's team and Wilson's team.

Louis came to the sidelines to watch the game.

This game is very interesting. Ellis' state and his chemical reaction with others can be seen at a glance.

After the captains of the two teams took turns selecting players, the rosters of the two teams came out.

Ewing's team first selected Stockton, Wilson's team first selected McHale, and second selected Hornacek - this selection round was established by Louis based on the BP link in the LOL game. Ewing selected Miller second,

The third pick of Ellis was very sneaky, and he brought the two best shooters in the team to his side.

"I bet Patrick shot himself in the foot." Louis is really not optimistic about the combination of Miller and Ellis.

If Ellis affects Wilson's movement, wouldn't he affect Miller? What's more, Miller also stole Ellis' starting position. If these two people come together, what kind of cooperation can they have?

Is it a chemical reaction? It would be great if there is no internal strife.

Ewing is a good prospect to be a coach. He played under Louis for several years and got a taste of the benefits, so when forming the team, he directly recruited the best shooters in the team to his own team.

However, he only knew one but not the other. After all, he was too immature.

"Why do I feel like Patrick made a good choice?" Tomjanovich didn't see the root of the problem.

If you don't seize this opportunity that can deceive people, you will go to hell.

"I bet $3,000 on Benj's team to win, who will bet with me?" Louis looked directly at Tomjanovich.

The meaning in his eyes couldn't be clearer. If you think Ewing's team can win, then you take a gamble with me.

$3,000 is still within Tomjanovich's budget.

He agreed, but he didn't expect that this incident would also attract other assistant coaches and staff members in the Blue Palace to place bets.

Wilson's second and third choices were Oakley and Rodman.

In this way, the starting lineup of both sides is formed.

The subsequent selections are all substitutes for both teams.

Selley and Stevens were selected by Ewing, and Cooper and Song Tao were selected by Wilson.

"Big Bird", "Vanilla Gorilla", "The Only True God of the Knicks", "Big Core Killer on the Outside", Brad Rohaus, was too strong and chose to destroy the balance, so he was banned by both parties.

Fall out and become the referee of the competition with honor.

"People also want to play games..." Luo Haos complained to Louis.

This undesired outcome did hurt his pride, so Louis diverted his attention with another message: "Because you are not involved, you can join another game."

"What game?"

Louis told him about the bet.

Luo Haos happily placed a $3,000 bet that Ewing would win, and as the referee on duty, he was likely to blow the whistle during the game.

Louis thought it was inappropriate at first, but when he thought about it later, he thought it was a simulated encounter with a betting referee in a game... Hmm.

From the selection ideas of both sides, we can see their different focuses on the game.

Ewing is the best defensive player on the team. With him on defense, someone is guaranteed, so the players he chooses are all offensive-oriented.

On the contrary, Wilson's selection is mainly to strengthen defense, because he and McHale are guaranteed on the offensive end.

These are two very different teams.

At the beginning of the game, Ewing took the initiative inside.

Seeing him dominate the interior like an ancient beast, with neither McHale nor Oakley able to defend him, Louis lamented that talent really cannot be deceived.

Ewing basically had no chance to practice his offense under Louis, but he used the few shot rights and hard training on weekdays to improve his ball-handling threat a lot.

At the beginning, Ewing attacked with the ball. After encountering a double team, he passed the ball to Miller and hit a three-pointer, starting 5-0.

Wilson called a timeout.

During the timeout, Wilson reminded his teammates: "The coach is watching today. If you don't want to leave a bad impression on him, you'd better work harder."

Louis usually doesn't pay attention to player training. Occasionally, like today, his teammates were reminded by Wilson and changed their minds on the spot.

The defensive intensity became stronger, and the offense of Ewing's team gradually changed.

As Louis imagined, the shooter combination of Miller + Ellis is far less powerful than Miller + Wilson.

Ellis is destined to be an orphan without the ball.

He's the only player Louis has ever seen who doesn't make his teammates better when he's off the ball.

He was also the only player who made Louis realize that attacking without the ball does not mean being absolutely selfless.

Even if he doesn't mean it in that way, it is that style.

Looking back at Wilson's team, Hornacek showed a strong sense of competition.

During Ellis' absence, his average playing time reached 25 minutes per game.

Because he can play both the first and second positions. Therefore, if Louis needs a reliable substitute for the first or second position, he will naturally be thought of.

Hornacek gradually found himself more comfortable in the second position.

Now that Ellis is back, his time at the second position will be greatly reduced, unless he can prove that as a substitute at the second position, he is not only not inferior to Ellis, but also has the persistence that the latter does not have.

ball organization.

It was this sense of competition that made Louis think deeply.

Ellis is indeed more comfortable to use, but Hornacek is a player that better meets his requirements. A combo guard who can control, shoot and defend. He doesn't have as many problems as Ellis. He is very selfless and a very stable team member.

, the advantages are too numerous to count... On the other hand, Ellis...

The balance tilted in Louis' heart, just like there was no suspense in this game after Wilson and the others took the lead.

Halfway through the game, the suspense was almost gone, and Louis turned around and left.

He already knows what he wants.