Chapter 58: The Defending Champion

"Why, why, I think I should have reported you, they must be worried that you will directly lock in the All-Star starting position, it's really disgusting. Pen ~ Fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info"

"There are even hacks on the Internet, I really want to pinch them to death."

"It's not a big deal, isn't there still a rookie game, I'll get a chance after the main game, and then we'll go have a good weekend, you've already planned it......"

Lehi had just arrived in New Jersey with the team when he received a call from Xia Weiliang.

The All-Star voting began, and the Knicks didn't put the rookie Lee poster on it.

There is also a lot of noise among domestic fans, one view is that Lehi's role in the Knicks is worthy of a name, and the Knicks' three nominees are Marbury, Crawford and Kurt Thomas, and fans who hold this view think that Lehi is at least better than two of them.

Another point of view is that Lehi is not an All-Star yet, and the Knicks are right not to nominate them, otherwise it will be as ridiculous as Yao Ming overwhelmed O'Neal when he was a rookie.

Lehi himself was not dissatisfied, and it was normal for the team not to nominate him as a rookie, and he was very happy that the fans supported him.

It's a little early for him to think about the All-Star, the team's starters, better contracts, how to help the team win more wins, he has a lot of questions to consider, and the All-Star is an entertaining event that has to be ranked lower.

Against the Nets, Marbury is very eager to win, not that he has been unhappy, and the Nets leader Jason Kidd has always been the player to compare with him in the media, and he is the one of the two who failed.

Of course, there is another Steve Nash in the discussion now, and the team that Marbury can't lead will become a strong team in the league in the hands of other good guards, which is the source of the so-called "cancer" theory.

Marbury himself would certainly not admit it, but the incident also caused him a lot of pressure.

Against these teams, he's going to want to win, and he's trying to prove something.

However, Jason Kidd has had some minor injuries during this period and is not in good shape, and the Nets have also affected their record by sending Kenyon Martin away.

But it is clear that they have no intention of giving up this season, and in the first quarter of the game, the Knicks felt the opponent's defensive attitude and offensive determination.

It stands to reason that Richard Jefferson is not a power forward and Tim Thomas shouldn't be afraid, but in fact, he didn't wake up from the game, shooting and making mistakes, and Lenny Wilkens had to pick him up early.

Richard Jefferson has excellent speed and jumping, but Lehi has even defended a player with strong all-round ability like James, so it is natural that he will not be surprised that this forward defender, who is more known as a "dunk".

Dealing with players who are not strong enough to hold the ball, whether it is a "pitcher" or a "dunk", or can shoot and dunk, it is the most important thing to keep the defense in place.

This requires extreme concentration, and this is where Lehi's defense is strong.

Richard Jefferson was less effective at being marked by Lehi, and the Nets barely tied with the Knicks in the first quarter with Jason Kidd and Eric Williams.

By the time Jason Kidd went down to rest in the second quarter, the Knicks pulled the score to double digits in one fell swoop, and in the third quarter, Jason Kidd unexpectedly hit a couple of three-pointers that he wasn't good at, and then the Nets couldn't do anything but defend.

Although Marbury was a bit of a struggler, Crawford continued to play well, and Lehi continued to play strongly, and the Nets didn't have many chances throughout the game.

At 90:79, the Knicks beat the Nets away.

Back at home, they faced back-to-back opponents against the defending champion Pistons, who had a strong defense.

As the defending champions, the Pistons also retained their championship-winning main lineup this season, "Mr. Key" Finals MVP Chauncey Billups, NBA's current "mid-range king" Richard Hamilton, defensive master with super long arms "Little Prince" Tyshawn Prince, "Roaring Celestial" Rasheed Wallace, "Big Ben" Ben Wallace.

The duo Wallace plus Antonio McDyce off the bench is the kind of team that can rub the Knicks to the ground inside.

There's no doubt that the Knicks still have to rely on outside scoring to make a difference.

Anyway, after winning the championship, the Pistons were also taken seriously by other teams, and the start of the season was not very ideal, and the opponents were Eastern Conference teams in the playoffs, and they needed to show strength.

On the first offense, Hamilton broke free from Crawford's defense and scored from the mid-range shot.

But then, Crawford hit a three-pointer past Hamilton.

The two No. 2 positions of the Knicks and the Pistons directly laid the rhythm of mutual explosion, Crawford's defense is very average, and the Pistons' overall defensive ability is strong, but Hamilton is the weakest defensive person in the starters.

Both men scored easily against each other's defenses, with the difference that Crawford was able to score three-pointers and Hamilton was just a regular mid-range shot.

The Knicks' starting five played well in this game, and Lehi came on relatively late.

As soon as he got on the court, Prince felt a different kind of pressure, and Tim Thomas, like him, was focused on shooting offensively, and he used his long-arm interference to great effect.

Lehi is also good at shooting, but he is not a pure pitcher, and seeing a defender like Prince who has a strong ability to interfere with outside shots but does not move fast, Lehi decisively makes a breakthrough.

The Pistons' interior line is a double Wallace, if it is too deep, it is a hat, and Lehi uses his speed and power to rush past Prince's defense in two steps and make a pull-up jumper.

Lehi can score at this point, Crawford has a good hand, and Marbury can play more smoothly, and can switch freely between playing and passing, so that even if the interior line is blown into scum, the Knicks have the power to fight.

But in the same situation, if one of the three outside players is not in good shape, it will be difficult for the Knicks to compete with a strong team on the inside.

In the first half, because of Crawford's consecutive three-pointers and Lehi's play, the Knicks actually won the Pistons by 16 points, which was simply overwhelming.

However, at the beginning of the second half, Rasheed Wallace hit two three-pointers in a row, followed by a successful steal by Prince, and in less than five minutes, the gap was reduced to three points.

That's the strength of the defending champions, the offense is just the surface, and in the last few minutes, they have prevented the Knicks from scoring only 2 points from the free throw line.