Chapter 37: The regular season begins
In the last preseason game, Lehi had 15 points, 7 rebounds and 3 steals and completed his task. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ļ½ļ½ļ½Uļ½Eć ļ½ļ½ļ½ļ½
The New York Knicks' 15-man roster is fully confirmed and they have officially begun preparing for the regular season.
To Lehi's pity, Battle couldn't stay, and the team chose the 2.18-meter Bralo Sandev as the reserve for the inside line.
In November, the regular season officially began, and the Knicks did not play on the first day, and after training, Lehi received a call from Xia Weiliang.
"How does it feel to be in the team during this time, no one bullies you, I heard that the team will bully newcomers."
"It's okay, there's nothing very exaggerated."
"Tomorrow I will come to the stadium with some classmates from the school to support you, and I have to cheer for the first game."
"No problem, I just hope the manager will give me more opportunities, hehe."
After chatting with Xia Weiliang for half an hour, Lehi's mood became very good.
To be honest, although Lenny Wilkens is famous enough, he is a little old-fashioned and not tough enough, let alone Marbury, even Tim Thomas is a little uncontrollable, the atmosphere in the team is relatively average, and Lehi is really a little unhappy these days.
On Nov. 3, when the Knicks hosted the Timberwolves, Wilkens didn't let Lehi start, and the final preseason game was just a warning to Tim Thomas.
The Timberwolves finished first in the regular season last season, only losing to the Lakers in the Western Conference finals in the playoffs.
Sam Kassel in the No. 1 position, Ratriel Sprewell in the No. 2 position, Wally Szebiak in the No. 3 position, Kevin Garnett in the No. 4 position "The Wolf King", and Michael Olowokandi in the No. 5 position.
Compared to the Knicks' starting lineup, it is a lot more reasonable.
At the beginning of the game, the Timberwolves were hit by their boss Kevin Garnett, who was difficult to guard against with Garnett's height and arm length.
The Knicks were clearly at a loss on the inside, with the No. 4 and No. 5 positions both being shorter by the opposing team, and after their offense, Jamal Crawford hit an unreasonable three-pointer directly.
But then he missed a few more shots, and if Marbury played "alone" for competitive reasons, then Jamal Crawford played "alone" for purely technical reasons, and this is bound to happen if you want to use him.
Marbury originally saw that this partner was new and had a good personality, and planned to let the other party play more, but seeing that this guy didn't have much intention of passing, he also increased his personal offense.
He shot reasonably well, scoring several goals in a row, and the Knicks relied on the ability of two guards to lead by 10 points in the first half.
However, there is still a guy in the Knicks lineup who plays "alone", Tim Thomas receives the ball and is also a variety of singles, he is 2.08 meters tall, the tallest person in the Knicks' starters, but he plays the small forward position, and the small forwards in the league basically have a height advantage.
However, this guy was a little upset because head coach Wilkens criticized his defense, and he didn't feel good today, and he missed a few minutes in a row to let the Timberwolves catch up with the score again.
After seeing Wally Szczebiak, who was shorter than him, grab a frontcourt rebound in front of him, head coach Wilkens told Lehi to get ready.
For Tim Thomas, a player, Lehi has some incomprehension, excellent jumping, large shooting range, height and arm span are better than him, and he was also a character who couldn't hang up when he was in school, but he was mediocre in the NBA, and he felt that he had wasted extraordinary talent.
The two sides entered the rotation, and Szzebiak, a white forward with a strong body and excellent shooting, remained on the court, and he would be Lehi's first opponent in the NBA's first regular-season game.
As a rookie, you must do a good job defensively, and head coach Wilkens is also the type who values defense.
Seeing a rookie like Lehi, Szzambiak also planned to use him as a breakthrough point, but Lehi was focused and did not give the opponent a chance to shoot in the open position.
There is no technique and beauty, just eat hard with the body, but although Lehi is a little lighter than the other party, his strength is a little stronger, and he didn't let the other party break through.
Szebiak was a little surprised, but he was calm and didn't force it anymore.
Lehi's steady defense also made the coach on the sidelines nod.
Compared to strength, Lehi is only one point stronger, but compared to speed, he is much stronger, and in the attack, he doesn't care whether his teammates pass the ball or not, he just keeps running, he is a substitute, but he doesn't care about the consumption of physical strength.
The opportunity came hard, Marbury was "alone" and "alone", but the passing method was first-class, and when Lehi ran out of an open spot outside the three-point line, his ball was thrown almost at the same time.
Lehi caught the ball and jumped up to shoot in one go, and the Knicks won by five points at 30:25 in the first quarter.
By the time Marbury went down to rest in the second quarter, the team had become even less connected, and Lehi could barely catch the ball, so he was replaced.
When Marbury was on the court, his hand was not as hot as it was in the first quarter, and Crawford was sometimes good and sometimes bad, and he didn't know what would happen until the basketball fell, but at halftime, the Knicks lost by 7 points and 12 points in the second quarter.
In a group of Knicks' benches, Lehi and another forward, Michael Svetney, can still play, and everything else is a mess, especially the Knicks thought that the former All-Star Wein Baker, who had picked up a cheap signing, had been completely destroyed by alcohol, and stood on the court as if he was drunk.
In the third quarter, the two sides played fiercely, Marbury felt good on the Knicks' side, and came back from a lap of the Olympics, Marbury planned to work hard to lead the team to achieve good results, but the Knicks offense had him in tandem with a decent look, but the defense was unsatisfactory, and Garnett was too much of a headache.
Not long after the third quarter, Lehi came off the bench again.
After the first half attempt, he was also a little more confident, and in order to chase the points, the Knicks replaced Nazr Mohammed, who had no offensive ability, and played a small lineup.
And the Timberwolves did the same, swapping Michael Olowokandi.
This time Lehi's opponent became Ratril Sprewell, Sprewell was much faster than Szelbiak, but Lehi could still keep up, although the opponent's defense was good, but his height and weight were worse than him, he was not a rookie who didn't know how to take advantage of his advantages.