The Knicks' unexpected overturn on the Charlotte Hornets' road not only missed a good opportunity to win four in a row, which made the media and fans regret for a while, but also made people more aware of the importance of Roy in the team, and also made the team more aware of the trouble of missing a good point guard.

Back in New York, head coach Hornacek didn't say anything, but the team's actions spoke for themselves: on the second day's training session, assistant coach Stockton pulled Rose, Vujacic and Roy out individually for special training.

The purpose of Stockton's special training is very clear, first, to teach these three "pseudo-point guards" (Rose's style of play is more offensive, Vujacic is transformed from a point guard to a point guard, and Roy is a scoring guard himself) how to connect the team's offense, and second, to train them how to defend the opponent's super PG (point guard).

Time is running out, time is really running out. Tomorrow, the three of their "pseudo-point guards" will welcome the strongest "pseudo-point guard" in the league - Russell Westbrook.

Westbrook is also a "pseudo-point guard"? That's a must.

As the league's scoring champion in the previous season (2014-2015 season), Westbrook's style of play is simply no different from that of a scoring guard: except for Durant, no one passes easily, 90% of the time he breaks through to the basket will choose to go alone, he doesn't know his father when he waves on the outside, and he averages 18.1 shots per game (last year's data, the year before last year's data was 22.0 times), can Westbrook still be called a "point guard"?

Of course, some fans may say, no matter how much Wei Shao likes to play alone, can't he also contribute an average of 10.4 assists per game? Isn't that stat a sign of a good point guard?

Yes, Wei Shao is indeed very good at passing, but that is limited to passing, which is not the same thing as organizing an attack.

You must know that Wei Shao's 10.4 assists data is based on an average of 4.3 turnovers per game, and the 2.4 assist-to-turnover ratio (total assists/total turnovers) is not to mention compared with the league's top point guards (Conley 4.1, Paul 3.8, Rondo 3, Parker 2.9, Wall 2.5), and even role players like Calderon (3.4), Galloway (3.4), Mills (3.0), and Dellavedova (2.9) are much better than him.

And this season, after losing Durant, Wei Shao has obviously struggled to get assists. In the 18 games he has played, although Wei Shao has contributed a beautiful 200 assists (11.1 per game), he has also made a staggering 97 turnovers (5.4 per game), and the assist-to-turnover ratio has fallen to a new career low of less than 2.1.

This is the league's strongest "pseudo-point guard", and this is Westbrook, the strongest this year.

As the strongest "pseudo-point guard", is Westbrook the strongest No. 1 position in the league at present? If there were still people who answered with a little sarcasm last year, "He doesn't deserve it, he's just a stunned young man who only pops up," or "He's just a data brush, no match for Curry, Irving, or Wall," or "What does he have?" Isn't it Durant's henchman", then Westbrook's performance this year can only be described as incredible.

After the departure of team boss Kevin Durant from the Golden State Warriors, Westbrook's energy was completely released, and his stats were as red as stocks that had experienced a bull market.

So far in the new season, the unrecognizable Thunder has played a total of 18 games and has a good record of 10 wins and 8 losses, Westbrook's personal data is perverted, averaging 31.2 points, 9.9 rebounds, 11.1 assists, 1.22 steals and 0.39 blocks in 35.4 minutes per game.

"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" Westbrook can almost average a triple-double per game, and he almost single-handedly supported the entire Thunder team's offense. While he's still in the league with a lot of turnovers (5.4 per game) and still the league's biggest stats (23.8 shots per game and 43.46% shooting), he's been able to improve his stats by a big margin while playing the same minutes (23.5 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 10.4 assists in 34.4 minutes per game last season).

It was Westbrook's insane performances this season that made all the players against him like rivals. Obviously, after parting ways with Durant, "Westbrook" is holding his breath to prove himself to the whole league, he has scored a terrifying 7 triple-doubles in the previous 18 games, and he has played against many famous No. 1 positions in the league, such as Bledsoe, Dragic, Lawson, and even Curry, who have been pained by his simple and rough play.

Westbrook has been crazy this year, and that's the unanimous opinion of everyone, and he's going to prove himself in front of fans around the world by beating the best No. 1 on every team.

The Knicks' starting No. 1 pick is Derrick Rose, and coincidentally, he and Russell Westbrook were classmates and friends in the first draft.

It's really interesting to count the past of these two people, their life trajectories are like two intersecting curves, one high and low, and the other low and high.

In the first three years of high school, college and the NBA, the man who stood at the top of the basketball world was named Derrick Rose, and the superstar who was worshipped by experts, media, and fans around the world was named Derrick Rose.

This isn't alarmist, Westbrook was still struggling with his college scholarship when Rose led the team to two consecutive Illinois Championship championships in the high school league (120-12 in four years); At a time when Rose became the most promising high school student in the country, was selected to various best lists, and won MVP, Westbrook, a freshman, contributed a pitiful 9 minutes per game, scored 3 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, and shot 55% from the free throw line at UCLA; As Rose led the University of Memphis to the NCAA Finals, Westbrook was the backdrop for Rose's success.

Then, the two of them entered the draft at the same time, with Rose being the top pick and Westbrook fourth. At that time, in the scouting reports of all teams, they were full of praise for Rose, and compared with Westbrook in the same class, in addition to the ability to block and dismantle, Wei Shao almost did not have a technical evaluation that could match Rose.

After entering the NBA, it was also Derrick Rose who was far ahead, winning the Best Rookie Award in his rookie season, being selected as an All-Star the following year, and becoming the youngest MVP winner in NBA history in the third year, and a superstar admired by everyone in the league. Until the 2010-2011 season, Westbrook's honor book was completely blank except for being named to the All-Rookie First Team in his rookie season.

Everything turned around on April 29, 2012, the opening game of the 2011-2012 playoffs, when the Chicago Bulls, the No. 1 team in the East, hosted the Philadelphia 76ers, the eighth-place team in the East. In this game, under the leadership of the number one star Rose, the Bulls played smoothly and led all the way, but just when the Bulls won the game and the game entered garbage time, tragedy happened. Because of the caution of head coach Tom Thibodeau, he did not replace Derrick Rose in time, resulting in an accidental injury in a breakaway, tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee and reimbursing the season.

Rose's serious injury was an extremely heavy blow to the team and him personally, his injury not only directly led to the Chicago Bulls, who ranked first in the East that year, to be successfully "black eight" by the eighth-ranked Philadelphia 76ers, but also made MVP Rose enter the "glass man" mode since then.

On the other hand, under the support of big brother Kevin Durant, Westbrook is getting better and better, since he was selected to the All-Star bench team in the 2010-2011 season, he has continued to rise, from the All-Star bench to the All-Star starter to the All-Star MVP, from the best second team to the best first team to the scoring champion, until this season, Westbrook has the qualification to impact the MVP.

The re-encounter between Rose and Westbrook was embarrassing, and it was clear that the smashing Willow no longer needed to prove himself by beating the scarred Rose.

In an interview with reporters, Wei Shao generously said, "Rose is his good opponent and good friend, but unfortunately the injury has caused him to suffer a lot, about tonight's game, I hope to limit the Knicks' top scorer Roy with all my might, and use my ability to lead the team to victory." ”

Wei Shao's intention of this statement is very clear, Derrick Rose is no longer the omnipotent MVP of the year, tomorrow's game Westbrook is not interested in dealing with Rose who is not as good as he used to be, he wants to pursue stronger opponents, and Roy, who is currently the most popular in the league, is undoubtedly his first target.

Of course, Stockton also understands what Wei Shao's declaration means, just like Gary Payton, Isaiah Thomas, and Kevin Johnson would always challenge themselves by name before the game against the Utah Jazz, Wei Shao's interview is to tell Roy, I'm going to teach you how to behave.

"How are you going to respond to Westbrook? Winning the game or beating Westbrook in stats, which outcome would you like more? In the pre-match training session, Stockton asked Roy about his attitude and wondered what he would do as a rookie on the multiple-choice question of individual wins and team wins.

On the other hand, no matter whether Roy wants to face Wei Shaogang or not, Stockton has his own unique recipe to teach Roy.

However, Stockton really doesn't know Roy's character too well, and in the face of other people's challenges, Roy's answer is always "yes", yes, Roy accepted Westbrook's challenge, but he not only wants to win against Westbrook, but also to win the game......