Chapter 430: The Victory and Loss of Direct Competitors
In the home team's locker room at Madison Square Garden, there is a huge Knicks logo under the luxurious and dazzling lights.
People were coming and going in the locker room, and everyone was almost there.
Lin Yu, who was listening to music with headphones on, had been walking in the arena passage for some time. He quickly reached the door of the locker room, which was also surrounded by reporters.
The sound of music in his ears helped Lin Yu ignore the group of reporters in front of him. With the help of the arena staff, he separated the crowd and pushed the door open.
The locker room became quiet for an instant. Everyone stopped what they were doing and raised their heads. When they saw it was Lin Yu, everyone returned to normal.
Lin Yu did not sit directly in his seat as usual. He just put down his bag and took off his headphones.
The music in my ears suddenly disappeared, replaced by a slightly noisy dressing room.
Lin Yu turned around and walked to the huge Knicks logo and clapped his hands heavily.
This time, everyone's attention was really attracted to Lin Yu. The locker room immediately became quiet, and everyone's eyes stayed on Lin Yu.
"Everyone, before this game starts, I would like to say a few words..."
Lin Yu's eyes were only focused on the team's main rotations, and behind him, Lionel Hollins came in at some point.
Hollins did not interrupt Lin Yu, he had already roughly guessed what Lin Yu wanted to say.
"Everyone should have seen the media reports in the past two days. All media reporters and sports commentators are telling us that after the All-Star break, we only lost two games, and they gave most of the credit for the win.
Part of it belongs to me, but what I want to say is that as long as it is a victory in a basketball game, it is a victory that belongs to the team and comes from the efforts of everyone."
"Winning tastes great, and no one wants to go back to that cycle of losing all the time, so our goal is to keep winning, and what I'm saying is, from the time we started our winning streak, our goal has been
It’s more than that.”
"We defeated strong opponents in the regular season, proving that we are also qualified to win in the playoffs. I know that except for me, almost no one on the team has experience in the playoffs, let alone winning the next season.
After the experience in the playoffs, what I can tell you is that winning in the playoffs is even more wonderful than the regular season."
"ESPN has analyzed it for us. We are still one win behind the Nets, one and a half games behind the Pacers, and two wins behind the Hawks. In the remaining 13 games, we have ample opportunities to surpass them!"
"Then, we should set the goal for the next stage as qualifying for the playoffs!"
Lin Yu's words were not inflammatory. He did not intend to use this speech to inspire the fighting spirit of the whole team. He just wanted to tell everyone that starting from this game, the Knicks' goal is the playoffs.
However, there were many echoing voices in the locker room. It seemed that Lin Yu's calm speech resonated with most people.
Wilson Chandler and Backman, who had no playoff experience, stood up and shouted that they would enter the playoffs; Shannon Brown, who had one playoff experience but only played a role in it, also hoped to usher in a real season.
Making his first appearance in the post-game; Zach Randolph, who participated in two playoff games as a substitute for the Trail Blazers and also played regularly, also stood up and clapped his hands...
Finally, it was Lionel Hollins, who suddenly walked up to Lin Yu: "Lin is right, we have proved our strength with the winning streak at the end of the season, whether it is the Eagles or the 76ers, or
Neither the Nets nor the Pacers should have entered the playoffs before us, we are more qualified to enter the playoffs than them!"
"So, starting from this direct match with the Nets, our goal has officially changed to the playoffs!"
"If we win this game, we will be tenth in the Eastern Conference. The Nets will be left behind by us. Our only opponents will be the Pacers, Hawks and 76ers!"
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In a Hudson River Derby, the players in the Knicks' rotation seemed to be on fire. Under the leadership of Lin Yu, they quickly suppressed their opponents.
The Nets are not weak. Although they sent away Kidd before the trade deadline, the Devin Harris they got back is not ordinary. In addition, Vince Carter and Richard stayed on the team at the last minute.
De Jefferson, this Nets is still a Nets with three star players.
They still hold on to their only hope of the playoffs. They only need to defeat the Knicks in this game to tie the ninth-ranked Pacers and get closer to the Hawks.
It's a pity that the Nets ran into the Knicks, who were in good shape at the end of the season, and this game was extremely exciting.
Lin Yu suppressed his opponent Carter as always, and the Nets' already weak inside line directly fed Randolph.
In the first quarter of the game, Randolph had perfect statistics of 14 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists. At the end of the half, his statistics reached 20+10, 22 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 assists.
When Randolph broke out, Lin Yu played a supporting role, not scoring much but getting crazy assists and rebounds.
He almost didn't score in positional battles, but scored on counterattacks after grabbing rebounds.
However, the two stars exerted their strength and the game soon lost its suspense.
At the end of the game, the Knicks defeated the Nets by 17 points and successfully won the game.
The commentator also announced: "With this victory, the Knicks' record has been tied with the Nets. Just because of the relationship between the wins and losses, the Knicks can only continue to rank eleventh in the Eastern Conference, but they have won consecutive games.
It seems that it is only a matter of time before we completely overtake our opponents.”
In the game on the same day, the 76ers upset the Celtics and continued to maintain a 3-game lead over the Knicks.
The next day, the Hawks lost to the Bulls, and the Pacers also lost to the Hornets.
As a result, the rankings in the Eastern Conference did not change, but the gap in wins further narrowed.
"The Knicks, the 76ers won, and the Hawks, Pacers and Nets all ended in defeat. After this round of the regular season, the Knicks have tied with the Nets, and the winning gap with the Pacers has also narrowed to 0.5 points.
, the winning gap with the Eagles has narrowed to 1!"
During the intermission of the game, the New York media, which gradually sided with the team, seemed to announce with some excitement that the Knicks were getting closer to the playoffs.
The close win gap with the Pacers is nothing. The point is that the win gap with the Hawks is only 1 game.
what does that mean?
This means that in the direct match between the two teams at the end of March, the Knicks are expected to completely tie the winning gap.
Or maybe we don't have to wait until that day. The Knicks, who have won eight consecutive games recently, will have surpassed the Hawks and occupy the top eight spots in the Eastern Conference.