On December 22, the Bobcats finally met a fish belly team, the New York Knicks.

The Knicks are pretty bad these days. The conflict between Marbury and head coach Isaiah Thomas has reached the point of irreconcilability, and he has been put on the bench. Their fancy Zach Randolph went to the Wizards, and the Knicks failed to send away Quentin Richardson and Channing Frye and Steve Francis as history went. Now the core of the team is Bunch Wells and Jamal Crawford, two people who can't defend.

Before the start of the game, Hayes and Bunch Wells had a friendly greeting, Wells had some regrets about keeping the Rockets last season, but his plan to win a big contract with the Knicks was very smooth, and he averaged 16 points and 5 rebounds per game this season, and getting a mid-range game is not a big problem.

Eddie Curry, the Knicks' center, has become so fat that he can't move this season, and even Biedlings can break him down on the offensive end. Hayes played Frye more easily, and the Bobcats led by 16 points at 38-22 in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Hayes sat on the bench and chatted with D'Antoni.

D'Antoni said: "Raymond [Felton] played well today, if he can shoot on point, he is much better than Jose [Calderon]. ”

"If he can shoot well, he will be at the same level as Paul and DeLong, and the Bobcats will have to pay the maximum salary to keep him." Hayes fully agrees with D'Antoni that Felton's passing awareness is good, and his athleticism is not comparable to Calderon's, who is 191cm tall and has a hard time dunking. Unfortunately, until 2010, Felton's shooting was still mediocre and his progress was slow. Criticism for his shooting made him a lack of deterrence on the outside. The Bobcats had no intention of renewing Felton's contract, and he could only accept the Knicks' contract for 2 years and 1580.

D'Antoni made adjustments to the team's tactics in this game, and the speed of the game was still fast, but the breakthrough was the main focus, and the outside shooting was reduced. In this way, Felton took advantage of it.

"Chuck, what do you think of our tactics now? We can't make big deals in the short term, we have to change tactics for players. I didn't expect the absence of the two to have such a big impact. D'Antoni said.

The absence of the two has really made a big difference, and Hayes has been a bit more aggressive in rebounding recently, but his scoring and assist statistics have dropped, and he is getting closer and closer to averaging a triple-double per game.

Hayes put the towel on his face and said, "It's not bad, as long as everyone's strengths and advantages are brought into play, we are still a strong team." But the Knicks are too weak to see anything, and their main players can't even beat our bench. All in all, without Andrea and Jose, I don't think it could be any worse. As long as you think about it from a different angle, there will be no more unlucky situation, and you can stop the fall and rebound. I'm confident about this season. ”

At this time, Weaver broke through to the basketball, stepped on the foot of Knicks substitute Jerome James when he landed, and fell to the ground...... D'Antoni swooped up like a spring on his ass, stared blankly at the court, and said to Hayes, "Chuck...... It seems to be worse. ”

Hayes: "......"

Weaver was sent straight off the court for treatment and never played again.

The Bobcats had a clear advantage, winning 109-92 at home against the Knicks. Weaver had an MRI after the game, and Bobcats team doctor Perry said Weaver had a "very severe ankle sprain" and would be out for about a month.

Hayes is going crazy, and the Bobcat is running out of people. This team used to be too unnoticed, so he didn't know much about the team doctor of the Bobcats, could it be that the team doctor here was also a quack? Poke your fingers and twist your ankles to rest for more than a month, is there any reason?

The Bobcats are really a team that often suffers from serious injuries.

In the 2005-2006 season, the Rockets' injury situation was quite serious, but there was one team that could compare to the Rockets, and that was the Bobcats.

The most unfortunate month was when none of the Bobcats' top three players in average points were able to play in the game. Gerard Wallace is out with a knee injury; Okafor, like Maddie, suffered a back injury and never returned to the ring; Karim Rush also missed 23 games. Due to frequent injuries, the Bobcats terminated Rush's contract after that season. Shaun May, one of the "North Carolina Four", only played in more than two dozen games and suffered a serious knee injury and was out for the season. The most spoof is Blevin Knight. The veteran was rushed to a local hospital after missing training with excruciating abdominal pain before the game, and was subsequently diagnosed with an abdominal strain that will miss four to five weeks. (How can I get an abdominal strain?) Is it severe constipation? Now, the Breucat striker on the bench is out again. Without Weaver, their bench strength has dropped again.

After that, the Bobcats played two away games, winning against the underdogs Bucks and Wizards.

Despite winning three in a row, the Bobcats didn't have an easy win, and their scoring ability has begun to weaken.

On December 29, the Bobcats lost again, losing at home to Chris Paul-led Hornets, and on the 30th of December, they lost back-to-back away games to the Magic.

In just two weeks, the Bobcats' record has fallen to 21-7. Moreover, it does not look like there is any sign of stopping the decline. After the game, the Bobcats were extremely frustrated, and they even spoke incoherently in interviews.

At the post-match press conference, head coach D'Antoni was silent for a long time before speaking. "It was a tough loss," he said. We didn't work hard enough on the pitch, either offensively or defensively. We missed a lot of inside scoring opportunities and missed a lot of open shots. I don't know why the team played so loosely and I don't know how to explain it. ”

Hayes was the most frustrated person of the night, not long ago they could beat the Magic by 25 points, but now, the Bobcats did not play with the energy they should have, talking about the reason, Hayes frowned, kept rubbing his face with his hands, and sighed in his tone: "This is a difficult question to answer, I don't know, I can't say why." It has to do with the absence of Bagnani, Calderon and Weaver, but not the main thing, we seem to have forgotten the feeling of winning. I didn't play a role in driving the whole team and was responsible for the team's loss. ”

Hayes has been able to contribute more than 20 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists recently. But these numbers can't be turned into victories. After losing several generals in a row, the hidden dangers of the Bobcats became apparent.

In addition to injury problems, defensive problems, and the Bobcats are too young for this team.

There is a lack of experienced veterans in this squad. Kurt Thomas is still a marginal man with only experience and no strength. Gortat, Landry and others can play with a good time, but once the team is behind, they are prone to panic and make mistakes in the busy. Azubuke was only a base-salary substitute for the Rockets last season, and suddenly played as the main starter, and his offensive play was very inconsistent, although the scoring was a little higher, but the shooting percentage dropped a lot.

The most serious problem is that there has been some change in Hayes' mentality as well. Hayes' stats are beautiful and his teammates can't feel it, but Van Gundy can see it.

"Chuck, now that you've got three injuries, you need to step up and take more responsibility and lead the team to victory. The Bobcats do have a problem with their staffing, and they don't have any strong players other than Gerard Wallace to work with you, but I think the root cause is that you've changed. After the Magic, Van Gundy went to Hayes alone and said.

"Am I changed? Which aspect? Hayes asked.

"Your mindset has changed. I don't feel like you're playing hard enough. Tend to be more inclined to attack from the outside, and on the inside, you also use your foot movement to shake off the opponent's shots, reducing the strong attack. Originally, I wanted you to influence Bagnani to be tougher, but now, on the contrary, our team style is getting softer and softer, and you and Wallace are starting to pull outside. You've only had 1.5 rebounds in the front court this season, and while it's about team tactics, you can be tougher. In the past, you commented on Nowitzki, saying that it is impossible for a soft egg to win a championship as the core, do you realize that you are about to develop in his direction? You can play the offense, but not in the high post, but on either side of the box, like Duncan. Van Gundy frowned, and this season he was back to the bitter and bitter look of 2005-2006. D'Antoni's style of play tormented him a lot.

"Hearing you say that, I feel like I'm a little bit wrong." Hayes sighed.

"It's not that it's a problem, it's a serious problem! Against the Cavaliers, you got James two hats in the opening game, and you didn't even have the idea of getting face back. I know what you're thinking is that your teammates have an advantage and it's easier to attack. But in the game, the main team will be overwhelmed, and the team will lose in momentum. If we hadn't restrained the Cavaliers in terms of staffing, we wouldn't have been able to win. Chuck, you're not the best player yet, you're too fond of taking shortcuts and relying too much on your teammates. If you don't have the support of your teammates right now, you can't lead the team to victory. Van Gundy smiled bitterly: "I suspect that you have signed a big contract and have money, so you don't want to fight with people, right?" Contract salary plus advertising endorsements, you are worth hundreds of millions. Whoever changes, the billionaire mentality changes. But I want you to come to your senses, last season you got a championship ring but you didn't prove that you were the best player. Isn't your goal to be the best player? ”

"Thanks, I'll be tough." Hayes said seriously.

Hayes plays softer than he used to be, and making too much money is one thing. Van Gundy only knew about his big contract and endorsements, but he didn't know that his actual assets were enough to buy a team. With so much wealth in one player, it's inevitable that there will be a bit of a change in thinking. And Hayes has two beauties at home, Gao Tongxuan and Taylor both said that they were afraid that he would be injured when they watched the game, and they had to tell him to be careful before each game. If you think about "safety first" when you are fighting under the basket, can you not be soft? In addition, averaging a triple-double per game is very tempting for Hayes, and he has the idea of brushing up the data, so he is willing to pull it out and create a chance for pitchers such as Bagnani, Azubuuk, and Calderon. On the court, Hayes does like to take shortcuts. When a teammate is strong, that's a strength, and if a teammate has a problem, that mentality becomes a disadvantage, leading to a lack of momentum, and the team needs him to step up at critical moments. If Van Gundy hadn't pointed out the problem in time, Hayes didn't know when he would wake up.

Now, Hayes is ready to step up and take on more offensive responsibility!

(To be continued)