Lin Yu went to train, and Donny Walsh was about to get busy.
He is not a fool, and he also knows that when doing transactions at this time, it is not enough for him to do it alone. He must involve Steve Mills. If something goes wrong, he can also ask Steve Mills to do it.
Taking the blame.
Therefore, Donnie Walsh used his responsibilities and power as the President of Operations to commandeer and allocate more than half of the goals given by Lin Yu to Steve Mills.
Donnie Walsh is in charge of the Wizards, 76ers and Kings, and Steve Mills is in charge of the Pistons, Suns and Warriors.
After that, the Knicks' management launched an all-out attack.
#
In February, the media focused on two main aspects.
First, the All-Star voting is over, and Lin Yu finally became the vote king with 3.53 million votes, a huge lead over second-placed Howard with 400,000 votes.
Including last year's vote champion, Lin Yu has won the All-Star vote champion for two consecutive years.
But that's not the most important thing. The most important thing is that Lin Yu's vote victory broke the league's historical record.
"The number of votes for the NBA All-Stars exceeded 3 million for the first time. Lin Yu raised this record to 3.53 million votes. He is already the well-deserved popularity king of the American Professional Basketball Association!"
Lin Yu, who broke the record as the top vote-getter, became more and more convinced that this season was his exclusive season.
Another focus of the media is that the Knicks faced the Lakers in the first game in February, and 23vs24 has begun to be hot again.
ESPN headlined: "Another version of 23vs24, Kobe vs Lin!"
They compared this version of 23vs24 with James vs. Kobe’s version of 23vs24, and came to the conclusion:
Although LeBron wore No. 23 earlier, the match between Kobe and Lin was a more authentic 23vs24. They are both shooting guards, both tend to be more technical, and both are good at mid-range and long-range shots, especially fadeaway jumpers.
The second-in-command is both a power forward...
They have too many similarities, and this season, the Lakers and Knicks' records are also leading the league.
ESPN's attitude is self-evident, they are on Lin Yu's side.
Lin Yu also found it interesting, because in his previous life, ESPN was basically James' official media, because Brian Windhorst later joined ESPN.
But now in this time and space, ESPN has turned to Lin Yu first because of the private cooperation between Lin Yu and Zach Lowe.
Sports Illustrated also published an article to preview this showdown between the largest cities in the United States.
"New York vs. Los Angeles. The last time they met, the Lakers had the advantage of home court and defeated the Knicks. This game returns to their home court, and the Knicks will definitely take revenge..."
On the other hand, USA Today is not optimistic that the Knicks can get revenge at home because of the following reasons:
The Knicks' recent state has declined greatly, which can be called a landslide. In January, their record was only 10 wins and 6 losses. Lin was injured. Kyle Lowry and Mario Chalmers were absent due to injuries. Such a situation
The Knicks are supporting the Knicks, but at this moment they have to face the Lakers who are in full strength. The difficulty of revenge is quite difficult.
Bill Simmons was already looking for excuses for the Knicks before the game even started.
"The Knicks have been in poor form recently, obviously affected by injuries. They are very likely to lose this Lakers game and be double-killed by the Lakers this season. But in these two games in the regular season, the Knicks' losses are very small.
It is difficult to use it as evidence to prove that the Knicks cannot beat the Lakers, because in these two games, they fought with a first-mover disadvantage. Perhaps, if we really want to decide the winner, we can only look forward to the playoffs."
Before the game, Lin Yu read all the news reports and the opinions of media experts and commentators.
What he felt was: "The Lakers and the Knicks are really different. The Lakers are backed by Hollywood and have many big-name star fans. The Knicks are on Wall Street and there are more media workers who favor the Knicks."
The Lakers have a bunch of Hollywood star fans, too many to count them all.
As for media workers who favor the Knicks, Bill Simmons, Zach Lowe and Stephen A. Smith have been relatively clear recently.
In terms of public opinion, it can be said that the two teams have their own advantages and disadvantages.
Off the court, it was a draw.
Faced with the pessimism of the media before the game, Lin Yu felt that there was still time to play in the game.
This Lakers team isn't that strong, at least that's what Lin Yu thinks.
Regardless of whether it was in the past life or the current somewhat deviated time and space, the Lakers' championship had some element of luck.
The two consecutive championships in the previous life were due to the season-ending injury of Garnett in the 08/09 season. Without Garnett, the Celtics did not even reach the finals that season. In the 2009/10 season, Garnett returned.
They immediately returned to the finals, but at this time Garnett, who was seriously injured and was declining, could no longer suppress Gasol at the same position.
In this deviated time and space, the Lakers' championship is also due to Garnett's injury.
Of course, it must be admitted that injuries are also part of the game, but aside from the injury factor, the Lakers who won the last two championships were not that strong, at least not a super team.
The current Knicks are not considered a super team, but Lin Yu believes that if the signing of the sixth man is successful and the shortcomings are filled, the Knicks will be promoted to a super team.
Because of this idea, Lin Yu was interviewed before the game and acted very confident.
"Our state is indeed not good, but we have been adjusting. The schedule has entered February, and we have figured out our problems. In the next game, even if the opponent is not the Lakers, we will win."
"Yes, what I want to express is that because the opponent is the Lakers, the only way for us to win the next game is to win."
"A poor state is not a problem, because the state can be adjusted. The absence of Kyle and Mario? It is not a problem either. We can make up for their vacancies through other methods..."
Lin Yu, who was very confident, was naturally made things difficult by some North American media, such as Yahoo Sports, who mentioned Bill Simmons: "What do you think of Bill Simmons' latest column?"
Although Lin Yu read Bill Simmons' latest column, he still pretended not to know, asked a question, and only expressed his opinion after getting the answer.
"That's just Bill Simmons' own opinion. My opinion is different from his. I think the regular season is the regular season. It cannot predict what will happen in the playoffs, because the playoffs are another format, different from the regular season."
The game is completely different. The only role of the regular season match is to prove who is the real king of the regular season between the two teams leading the league."
The word "regular season king" doesn't sound like a good word.
On the other side, Kobe responded: "King of the regular season? This doesn't sound like a compliment. Of course, whether it is a compliment or not, the Lakers will prove that compared to the Knicks, the Lakers are the king of the regular season.
king."
Kobe would feel that this word was not a compliment, and Lin Yu felt the same way. The reason is that if the king of the regular season is not the king of the playoffs.
Then the regular season king will become a joke. There is no way. In the American professional basketball, the playoffs are truly decisive.
Lin Yu had left himself a way out in the pre-game war of words.
If we lose the game and are double-killed by the Lakers, then Lin Yu can still say: Our goal is to be the king of the playoffs, and the king of the regular season is not important.
Before the game, Lin Yu's speech and Kobe's follow-up made the term "King of the Regular Season" even more popular.
ESPN will broadcast this game, and the theme will be: the battle for the king of the regular season!
Although, with both 37 wins and 9 losses, the Knicks and Lakers are still competing for the top spot in the league, but a regular season king seems to be a better summary.
#
Madison, it's already half an hour before the game starts.
When the Knicks players came on the court, the crazy New York fans made crazy noises, cheering, screaming, and shouting.
When the Lakers players came out, the noise didn't stop either, but the majority of it turned into boos.
Among the endless boos, Spike Lee was still the one who attracted the most attention. He pointed at the Lakers players and shouted towards the Knicks: "Kill these West Coast weaklings and tell them who is the real one."
The king of the regular season!”
Although the Knicks and Lakers have a 0:1 record against each other, even if they win this game, they will still tie their opponents 1:1.
But the competition for the regular season king also focuses on the team's overall record. At the same time, 37 wins and 9 losses means that whoever wins this game will be the so-called regular season king.
Unlike the heated fans on the sidelines, before the game started, Lin Yu found Kobe, hit the ball on his hands, and exchanged a few words, but none of them were related to this game.
"How much did your helicopter cost?"
"Helicopter?" Kobe frowned. He didn't understand what Lin Yu was asking, but he quickly responded: "Oh no, I forgot. You are asking about that time when I suggested you take a helicopter to participate in the game and...
About training?”
Lin Yu nodded.
Kobe showed his hands and said: "I haven't bought it yet, but I am planning to buy a small helicopter recently, which will cost about US$300,000."
"$300,000? It's not expensive."
"Are you going to buy one too?"
"I have this consideration, but I still want to evaluate it carefully. After all, this thing is flying in the sky and it doesn't look very safe."
Lin Yu pointed to the ceiling of the arena, and Kobe nodded: "Ok, if you also want to buy it, contact me, I have channels."
In this way, the two exchanged words about the helicopter, and then parted amicably. There was no trash talk before the game started, and there was not even the smell of gunpowder.
The game was about to start soon at the urging of the referee.
"The starters of both teams have appeared. For the Knicks, Mario Chalmers and Kyle Lowry still have not returned. They also did not continue to use Anthony Johnson as the starter, but made changes."
In this game, the Knicks used Lin Yu as the starting point guard, Shannon Brown entered the starting lineup, and the other three positions remained unchanged, namely Wilson Chandler, Zach Randolph and Kwame Brown.
"The Lakers' starting lineup has not changed, with point guard Derek Fisher, shooting guard Kobe Bryant, small forward Trevor Ariza, power forward Pau Gasol and center Andrew Bynum."
Shark Bynum and Kwame Brown staged a duel between their former teammates. In the end, the young Shark defeated Kwame Brown with his faster bounce, and the Lakers got the ball for the first attack.
"The Lakers pushed forward, Derek Fisher, he chose to hand the ball to Kobe, Kobe's single on the right side, and he faced Wilson Chandler's defense."
Lin Yu did not play against Kobe because his defensive tasks were more about supplementary defense and assisting defense. For defensive matchups, his opponent was Ariza.
As for Shannon Brown, he is facing an increasingly older Fisher.
Wilson Chandler's defense has been well trained. Facing Kobe, he did not give Kobe much space.
Kobe's style of play is also quite radical. It's basically a breakthrough. Regardless of whether there is a chance or not, he just pulls it out.
With a bang, the basketball hit the frame and popped out.
"Kobe's mid-range shot missed, the Knicks got the rebound, now it's time to counterattack!"
Randolph grabbed the rebound, and he had already formed muscle memory. He immediately started looking for Lin Yu, and then quickly handed the ball to Lin Yu.
After Lin Yu got the basketball, he turned around and launched a counterattack.
"The Lakers' defense speed is very average. In the three-on-three frontcourt, Lin is in charge of the ball..."
Lin Yu quickly rushed to the frontcourt, and Mai Madison had already burst into applause.
Immediately afterwards, when Lin Yu turned around quickly and passed Ariza in front of him, a wave of cheers began to set the stage.
Finally, Lin Yu made a diving leap and rushed towards the basket with great momentum, making a loud banging sound, and the whole Madison started to go crazy.
"Lin dunked at the beginning, from China. He seemed to be warming up for his dunk contest. He always seized every opportunity to dunk against the frame!"
After dunking, Lin Yu tugged on the rim, making a loud bang, then landed on the ground and raised his arms and shouted.
The Knicks players also rushed up to high-five Lin Yu. At the beginning, the Knicks boosted their morale.
Unlike many teams, the head coach of the Lakers, Phil Jackson, has a very restrained coaching style. Even when the Knicks lost momentum at the beginning, Jackson did not stand up to encourage the team.
Just like that, the Lakers started another wave of their offense amidst Madison's cheers, somewhat feebly.
In the new round of offense, the Lakers became cautious. Kobe did not take the ball, but played without the ball for a while. He started running from the wing, bypassed a screen, and began to face Lin Yu's defense change.
Then, while moving laterally, he received a pass from Pau Gasol. It was a hand-to-hand cooperation.
Lin Yu continued to follow Kobe, but Kobe passed the ball and found Pau Gasol, who started to cut in without the ball.
Pau Gasol, who caught the ball, also took three quick steps, and when Randolph's defense was no longer a threat, he succeeded in the throw.
In this way, the Lakers relied on Kobe's pass assist to regain two points.
Lin Yu looked at Kobe passing the ball, and he knew that Kobe at this time has become a little more reasonable. Such Kobe's statistics are not good, but the threat is greater.
But in this game, the Knicks' strategy is very simple, which is to use the single defense of Wilson Chandler and substitute James Posey, as well as Lin Yu's supplementary defense to defend Kobe. As for Kobe's passing
…
Just like James is more threatening with his passing than with his scoring, Kobe's passing is just the opposite, not much of a threat.
At least, for a team of the same level as the Knicks, the truth is correct.
The vernacular translation is: To defend against James, the defense is to pass the ball rather than his score. To defend against Kobe, it is completely the opposite. To defend against the score, not the pass.