After the All-Star Game, D'Antoni's early training camp was very effective. In successive confrontational training, the Knicks players quickly regained their regular season form.
On February 23, the Knicks played against the Milwaukee Bucks who were swept out 4:0 last season's playoffs.
The Bucks' performance this season is worse than last season. The team's core center Bogut stopped due to injury this season, and the starting point guard Brandon Jennings, who was the second-year show, is magical this season.
No more, his left-handed man has been thoroughly studied by major league teams.
However, Jennings is also actively developing his right-hand offense. Although he has not performed miraculously this season, his average of 16.2 points and 4.8 assists per game also proves that he has made some progress.
But it is obviously unlikely that the Bucks can enter the playoffs with Jennings.
In this game, against the Bucks, the Knicks played very easily.
104:118!
The Knicks easily defeated the Bucks with a 14-point lead.
On February 25, the Knicks played away against the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavaliers without James have become the bottom of the Eastern Conference. They are determined to play the bad game and compete for this year's No. 1 pick.
In this game, the Knicks also tried hard to defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers 115:103.
In this game, Lian Dao punched in again in three quarters, scoring 24 points, 8 rebounds and 13 assists. Millsap and David Lee, who came on the bench, performed well. Millsap scored 30 points and 4 rebounds, and David Lee scored 23 points and 13 rebounds.
After losing to the Mavericks, the Knicks won eight consecutive victories again.
However, on February 27, the Knicks will usher in the first strong opponent after the All-Star game, the Miami Heat, one of the strong opponents in the Knicks East this season.
This is the fourth time the Knicks faced the Heat this season and the last time the regular season this season. In the first three matches, the Knicks achieved a record of 2 wins and 1 loss.
In this away game, all the Knicks players were ready for revenge by the Heat.
Lian Dao and the others knew that this would be a difficult battle, and everyone was well prepared.
Sure enough, the three Heat giants performed well in the cheers of American Airlines Center fans in the first quarter, and LeBron James and Dwyane Wade felt even more enthusiastic. After the first quarter, the Knicks fell behind the Heat at 23:34 in a single quarter.
11 points.
But in the second quarter, the Knicks launched a counterattack.
Lian Dao led Millsap and Cousins to beat the Heat's inside lineup. Big Z did not play on the injury list. The Heat's substitute player at No. 5 position was Joel Anthony, but this guy's performance was really too
It was pulled down.
The Heat's inside defense was hit by Lian Dao's repeated breakthroughs. Especially when entering the second quarter, D'Antoni used a misplaced singles tactic and pressed the Heat's weak inside to attack.
Neither Bosh nor Joel Anthony caused much interference to Lai Liandao's breakthrough.
On the contrary, the Heat's double-team against Lian Dao in the second quarter gave Millsap and Cousins a lot of open opportunities. Today, they also continued the touch of the previous game, whether it was a three-pointer or a mid-range shot, hit.
The rate is excellent.
In the second quarter, the Knicks' overall shooting percentage was as high as 73.4%.
At the end of the second quarter, the Knicks caught the score to 52:51, and the Knicks led by 1 point to finish the first half.
Entering the second half, D'Antoni even implemented the pick-and-roll misplaced singles tactics to the end. As long as the Heat dared to double-team the inside, Sir and Cousins will get a chance, especially Cousins after the All-Stars, whose inside lethality is definitely not the same.
Joel Anthony or Eric Danpier can hold it down.
Moreover, the Heat's outside firepower in the third quarter did not continue the hot state of the first half, especially Dwight Wade, who was in no state under Tony Allen's strict defense and missed the shots one after another, and only Wade
After breaking through, the Knicks quickly contracted their defense.
The Knicks' targeted defense made Wade a little miserable.
Although James still can score, under Lian Dao's control, his offensive efficiency is not very high.
The Knicks also used their overall outstanding performance to gradually widen the score.
At the end of the third quarter, 74:65, the Knicks led by 9 points and entered the fourth quarter.
Although the Heat, who entered the fourth quarter, launched a series of counterattacks led by James and Bosh, they were eventually suppressed by Lian Dao, Xiaos and Cousins on the offensive end.
The Knicks' goal in this game is very clear, which is to focus on inside offense and give full play to the inside advantages of Sir and Cousins.
In the last 2 minutes, the Knicks still firmly grasped the 8-point lead.
However, the ball is in the hands of the Heat. In the hand-to-hand battle with Lian Dao, James never took the lead and naturally had no room to catch the ball.
Bosh and Eric Danpier's off-ball cover finally gave James the ball space, but James, who had just got the ball and wanted to break through, was squeezed through Bosh's pick-and-roll, blocking the breakthrough route.
James had no choice but to carry Lian Dao to attack the inside. Seeing that James wanted to attack the basket, S and Cousins were ready to shrink the basket at any time.
Seeing this, James had no choice but to take action in the middle distance, but his attack was disturbed by Lian Dao, and the basketball hit the front of the basket, and Lian Dao took the rebound first.
The Heat retreated very quickly and did not give the Knicks any chance to break fast.
Sir Jr. and Cousins once again mentioned the high position. James and Bosh thought Lian Dao would hit the basket again, so the defense focused on Lian Dao's breakthrough.
However, after Lian Dao covered Xiaosi's high position, he directly took action outside the three-point line.
Although Bosh pounced on him alertly, he was still one step slower in the end.
Looking back, the basketball fell straight into the basket.
"brush!"
"Oh, Sickle's three-pointer is really important. This three-pointer has basically announced the death penalty for the Heat. In 1 minute and 23 seconds, James and the others were still 11 points behind, which is almost impossible to catch up with.
score!"
"Sickle's scoring ability at shutdown this season is really too strong. Key goals like this happen frequently in the Knicks' games!"
The commentator Jeff Van Gundy and Mike Bryn couldn't help but sigh at Lian Dao's big heart. Sometimes the big heart of being a star is the key to testing the team's ability to attack.
However, the Heat did not give up, and Wade scored three-pointers again. Unfortunately, his condition was not online in the second half. At this time, he took a three-pointer that was already unstable, and the situation was predictable.
Wade missed a three-pointer, and although Bosh grabbed the rebound, Bosh's second attack was slapped by Cousins in the double-team between Sir and Cousins.
Lian Dao grabbed the basketball he shot and passed it to Holiday who was about to get off the ground, making a layup successfully.
At this time, Spore saw that he had no way to turn things around, and in the last 52 seconds, he called a pause, replaced all the main players and announced his surrender.
Lian Dao scored 28 points, 8 rebounds and 14 assists, Sir Jr., Cousins and Millsap scored more average, both of which were around 22 points.
On the Heat, James scored 29 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists; Bosh scored 22 points, 12 rebounds; Dwyane Wade scored 13 points, 7 rebounds and 9 assists. Except for the Big Three, none of the Heat scored double-digit points.
In the end, the Knicks defeated the Miami Heat 103:92, and the Knicks won three of them in four games.
In the regular season, the Knicks faced the Heat's Big Three four times and won three of them. Although the Knicks did get the advantage of the Heat's uneven lineup in the last two games, they won the victory.
The Knicks, who originally had the record as the league's number one, defeated the Heat three times in the regular season, which made the Knicks even more famous.
Many fans, including some retired superstars, are very optimistic about the Knicks this season. They believe that as long as the Knicks are not surprised in the next game this season, the Knicks will basically be the first in the regular season record.
Even some Knicks fans are very optimistic that they will break the Bulls' regular season record of 72 wins.
Lian Dao is currently ranked first in the regular season MVP prediction ranking.
After playing against the Miami Heat, the Knicks also ended in February.
On February 28, the NBA also announced the "Player of the Month" in the East and West in February, but the best of the month in February was not Liandao, but was given to the Magic's Dwight Howard, who was in the second half.
The month ushered in a big explosion, averaging 29.6 points and 14.8 rebounds per game, shining brightly.