Leaving Dallas, the Knicks moved to Houston, easily beating the Rockets on the road, and beating off the Rockets at home during the nineteen-game winning streak, the Knicks completed a sweep of the Rockets this season. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

Under the tight defense arranged by Wang Zhuo, Harden shot 6 of 20 from the field, hit all 6 shots from beyond the three-point line, and barely scored 20 points by making free throws, but had an astonishing 5 turnovers.

The loss of Howard's Rockets is like the loss of Durant's Thunder, completely withdrawing from the ranks of the Western giants, and the situation of Harden and Westbrook is also very different, handing over beautiful and amazing statistics in every game, but it is often difficult to find a win.

D'Antoni's tactical system has no defensive part at all, and throughout the game, the Knicks blossomed inside and out, with the overall shooting rate of the whole team exceeding 55 percent and the three-point shooting rate exceeding 40 percent, so it was completely reasonable to win such a game.

After that, the Knicks returned to the court and picked up the Hawks at home, the Hawks lost Horford in the offseason, but relied on the hometown complex to grab the former superstar Howard, and after a big change in the offseason, the Hawks are no longer the "Eastern Spurs" of the past.

Although Howard's legacy was undiminished, easily scoring a big double-double of 26 points and 14 rebounds, it was still difficult to hide the rust of Budenholzer's tactical system.

In the blink of an eye, it is the annual Christmas war, after last season's dark horse performance and offseason roster reinforcements, the Knicks are back in the ranks of the Christmas war, the itinerary shows that at 8:30 p.m. on December 25, New York time, the Knicks will face the San Antonio Spurs at the Madison Square Garden Arena.

In addition to the focus of the Cavaliers and the Warriors, this game is another strong conversation that has attracted the attention of the media and fans, and the Knicks have taken it very seriously from top to bottom, after all, no player wants to lose and lose in this festival that is celebrated all over the world.

Wang Zhuo is naturally also very interested, not because of Christmas, but for the first time in a close situation with the legendary coach of the Spurs Popovich.

Fisher left last season, and after Wang Zhuo took office, he also had an intersection with the Spurs, when Duncan had not yet retired, and the Knicks' strength was not enough to compete with the Spurs.

However, Wang Zhuo's several substitutions during the game impressed the old Popovich, and the old man did not hesitate to praise his praise when facing the media, praising Wang Zhuo for not being a thing in the pool.

After Duncan's retirement, the Spurs in the new season are centered on the double German, the French sports car Parker is still an indispensable part of Popovich's system, and with Pau Gasol, the Spurs are still unstoppable, with a 30-5 record on Christmas Eve, ranking second in the West, and only one win away from the Warriors, the top of the West.

Such a powerful spur is enough to attract Wang Zhuo's attention, in fact, even if the spurs are not strong enough, but Popovich's golden signboard, Wang Zhuo does not dare to take it lightly.

Therefore, while the Madison Square Garden players were greeting Santa Claus, Wang Zhuo kept looking through all the videos of the games the Spurs have played this season, especially several representative victories and routs, such as the big slaughter of the Warriors at the top of the Western Conference and the unexpected defeat to the Timberwolves.

There is a saying in China: "Just look at it, don't practice fake tricks." In his daily training in the recent period, Wang Zhuo deliberately arranged unexpected tactics for the Spurs' lineup.

On the other side, Popovich also has a boulder in his heart, in his eyes, this season's Knicks are too dazzling, especially the young but promising Chinese coach.

Popovich studied the Knicks' video footage and exclaimed as he watched it: "The offensive tactics are so perfect, no, the defense is also flawless, is it just because of Jeff Van Gundy?" ”

In the end, Popovich concluded that the Knicks' impregnable defense was by no means something that Jeff Van Gundy could have done for a long time, and of course, the soul of the defense came from Van Gundy's hands, but some people made small repairs, but caused a qualitative sublimation.

Thinking about it, there was only the seemingly little-known, but unfathomable yellow-skinned young man, and suddenly, Popovich felt that even though he was clever, he could never see through two people, one was the "mad scientist" old Nelson, and the other was this Chinese hairy boy named Wang Zhuo.

"You can't lose to this young junior no matter what."

A strange thought popped into Popovich's mind, and even he couldn't explain why.

In the past, Popovich could be said to be the head coach who took the most light view of winning and losing, because the Spurs often took turns to rest the team's main players after a wave of consecutive wins, even if it was a national live broadcast, or even a Christmas game, he also had the courage to make a decision to rest.

But in this Christmas game, Popovich's desire for victory is unprecedented, even in the 13th season and the Heat's tie-breaker, it is not as close to the enemy as it is now.

"Turn up the speed, don't grind, like a seventy or eighty-year-old man."

Popovich is notoriously harsh and harsh, deliberately extending the training time by half an hour for the Christmas game, and in his opinion, the only way to defeat the Knicks is to increase the speed without limits, after all, the principle of "martial arts in the world, only fast is not broken" also applies to sports.

On December 23, the last game before Christmas, the Knicks played the Magic, the Spurs played the Lakers, and the two strong teams that were about to meet each other used a hearty slaughter to perfectly start the prelude to the showdown like Mars hitting the earth.

On December 25th, while people were immersed in the joyous atmosphere of Christmas, the San Antonio Spurs landed in snow-flaked New York City from faraway Texas to present a fierce basketball game to the national audience in the basketball mecca of Madison, as a visual feast after Christmas dinner.

Madison Square Garden Arena was filled with laughter and laughter at this time, a Christmas tree several meters high stood in front of the stadium, fans dressed up one by one, red Santa hats and Christmas clothes, and fans glued snow-white Santa Claus beards, adding more festive atmosphere to the game.

Lin Yao was also unable to celebrate Christmas with Wang Zhuo because of this game, but she still chose to be with Wang Zhuo and came to the Knicks' home court to watch the game that affected her and Wang Zhuo's world together.