After the Christmas War, the Knicks had only two games left in 1997.

New York fans are still in a state of self-satisfaction, and every time they beat Michael Jordan, they will set off a new round of loan frenzy, and before the playoffs, the championship has already belonged to New York!

After an easy victory over the swooping Raptors, the Knicks defeated the Magic away on the night of the 30th.

Anfernee Hardaway is still in the midst of an injury.

Since then, the 1997 calendar has been over.

After flying back to New York overnight, Li You can also spend his 20th birthday at home.

Not long ago, the Knicks just celebrated Charles Oakley's 34th birthday, and the old guy still hasn't been able to get a contract, and Grenfield thinks Oakley has begun to decline.

Although this operation is somewhat unrelenting, if you only look at Excel, Oakley's performance is indeed not as efficient as last season.

The knock-on effect of Ewing's injury is that the team needs Oakley to be more involved in defense and more to grab rebounds.

On the defensive end, too much energy is consumed, and on the offensive end, Oakley has a mediocre hand in many games, and his mid-to-long-range jumpers are all iron.

It's hard to evaluate the Knicks' selection, and giving the 34-year-old short inside a big contract does take a lot of risks, but it's more due to the fact that the owner will be completely changed in two years.

The whole Knicks team knows that Charles Dolan's good son is an out-and-out playboy, and the son inherits his father's business, and the team just changes hands.

In order to make a statement to this man, Grunfield did the same thing as all the general managers of the league - save money.

In New York, the Knicks, who never worry about selling tickets, are actually rich, but how the new owner will build the team is not up to the general manager.

Regardless of the internal situation, the Knicks ended up perfectly, with 26 wins and 3 losses, leading the league!

Oakley still failed to reach a contract extension with the team, which made the old guy very unhappy.

Ewing was absent, and he even played defensively, but the management was indifferent.

Counting this season, the old guy has been with the Knicks for 10 years, and during that time, the salary is not much.

In Oakley's view, at the end of his career, asking for a big contract is the reward he deserves!

Li You didn't choose to have a birthday party very publicly.

Ewing is seriously injured, the future of several veterans is uncertain, and he is destined to get a big contract, and Cha Lemon is inevitable.

"While the Knicks have an amazing record, whether they can go far in the playoffs depends on Ewing being able to recover in time."

"We can see that the Knicks had problems with rebounding after Ewing's injury, and in the playoffs, that problem will be amplified as well!"

"No one is going to let go of a flaw like that, and in a high-intensity defensive playoff, it's hard for Lee and Alan Houston to win once their efficiency drops."

In the TNT studio, McHale talked eloquently, the legendary celebrity was not polite, and almost said that the Knicks would not win the championship.

On the other side, Kenny Smith, who just announced his retirement and joined TNT, shook his head and gave a different opinion:

"The Knicks' rebounding doesn't seem like much of an issue. At the moment, they are playing extremely efficient offense, and with the outside duo instigating, it is difficult for any team to really limit them. ”

"You may not know Lee, he's not Reggie Miller, and his excellent handling skills can help him get to the offensive areas that he is good at."

"I've played against him, and he's not the kind of guard we know of who only passes the ball to the big guys, and he's not a pure scorer like Mai Dunk."

"Lee can pass the ball, can find teammates accurately in the fast break, can organize the team's offense, and when the Knicks need to score, he can also respond."

"In my opinion, he's more like Kevin Johnson, handing over 20 points and then 10 assists, the difference is that Lee is better at shooting!"

“.”

In his Manhattan apartment, Li You leisurely watched the two people arguing on the TV.

TNT's show was very professional, and the retired legend commented on the league's favourites even more convincingly.

Li You only invited Ai Wen for his birthday this year, but before the time for the silver party arrived, his friends were a little unmotivated:

"I seriously suspect that these commentators are amnesia, and the other day McHale was saying that the Knicks are the most likely team to win the championship, and that would change the tone again."

In Hartford, as long as Evan reads the newspaper, he can see the news of the Knicks blowing every day, and under the passive attention, he also discovers the wall-to-wall attributes of these media.

Li You doesn't care about this, he is not Ewing, and he likes to see these critics comment on him.

Whether it's criticism or praise, as long as it can bring fun, Li You feels that this show is not in vain:

"Mutual understanding is all about making money! In the future, there may be a platform where not only football critics, but also fans can speak freely. ”

Li You suddenly remembered the era of keyboard warriors, but Ai Wen's eyes lit up, he felt that this matter was reliable, and said excitedly:

"It's a great idea, we should make it happen!"

“.”

Li You didn't speak, just looked at his friend teasingly, and soon Ai Wen also realized that both of them were technical idiots, so he immediately changed his tone and said:

"Well, we can invest in it! It's like investing in Yahoo, it's incredible! Their share price is going up so fast! ”

Seeing that his friend was getting more and more excited, Li You knew that he was being blinded by Yahoo, whose market value has soared.

Yang Zhiyuan is almost the idol of young people in this era, everyone loves "chief", it can also be said that everyone loves billionaires!

On January 1, 1998, the first day of the new year, the NBA league announced the December Player of the Month, and the Knicks' Lee Woo successfully won the award:

The Knicks had an 11-3 record in December, with Lee Woo averaging 20.5 points, 3.4 rebounds, 9.4 assists, 1.8 steals and 2.1 turnovers in 34.3 minutes per game.

He averaged 14.6 shots per game and shot 46.3 percent from the field, 6.9 attempts per game from beyond the three-point line and 42.5 percent from three-point range, and 4.6 free throws per game and 85.7 percent from the free throw line.

It was almost a 20+10 performance, so that on the first day of the new year, the New York media followed suit.

With the blessing of Excel, the "first point guard" began to become well-deserved.

Data can reflect the strength of players, and under big data, it can also reflect the player's style of play.

Ball critics are not blind, three-point shots account for half of the proportion, and two-point shots, Li You is also mostly concentrated below the left and right blocking areas.

Combined with the number of mid-range shots, Lee's stats look extremely efficient, and the true shooting percentage of 61.5% speaks for itself.

Li You won the award, and the media in Chicago began to hold grievances about Mai Button.

In December, the Bulls also had an 11-3 record, averaging 28.4 points per game in 37.4 minutes per game while shooting 45.2 percent from the field.

In general, except for 8 of 20 in the Christmas War, most of the games, Mai Dunk played very well.

The New York media was not polite at this time, in addition to turning over old accounts and mocking Michael Jordan for losing the Christmas war, he also arched the fire of shrimp and pig hearts:

"After the three-point line was changed back to normal distance, Michael Jordan's three-point shot was inaccurate!"

"Without the care of the league, the Bulls simply wouldn't have made it to the Finals last year!"

After digging deep into Michael Jordan's data, the 18.8% three-point shooting rate became the target of New York media attacks.

As for Mai Dunk, no one cares about making 1.1 shots outside the three-point line, and the spray is over! There's always a reason to find it anyway

On January 2, the Knicks challenged the Nets away, and the inside partnership of Keith Van Horne and Jason Williams poured cold water on the New York media.

At 96:103, the Knicks played a good offense, but ultimately lost on the inside.

Van Horn scored 29 points on 9-of-16 shooting and 3-of-5 from beyond the three-point line, while Jason Williams finished with 11 points and 15 rebounds on 5-of-8 shooting, seven of which were frontcourt rebounds.

In the first game of the new year, everyone on the Knicks didn't bring up the energy, and grabbing rebounds was also a manual job.

At 35:42, he lost 7 rebounds, and Jeff Van Gundy was very helpless about it.

Fortunately, in the back-to-back games that followed, the Fish Belly Magic team sent warmth, which avoided a losing streak.

On January 4th, after the morning video lesson, Jeff Van Gundy couldn't help but sigh:

"We should add another insider, Dudley is not fit to be a starter, he has some problems with finishing under the basket."

Assistant coach Thibodeau didn't want to get involved in the conversation, and it was clear to everyone that general manager Grenfield didn't care about the bald young coach's opinion.

On the other side, assistant coach Don Chaney didn't care about losing, and the record was leading, just to improve the margin for error:

"Larry's form is getting better and better, Lee has activated everyone, and losing some games can also help us better run in the lineup."

Jeff Van Gundy also heard Don Channey's voiceover:

"Ewing is too badly injured and gives up the inside attack!"

Eating cakes is also a technical job, and Ewing can score steadily as long as he is willing, while other interior players do not have this effect.

Jeff Van Gundy is also a little helpless about this, every time he sees the team shoot a lot of three-pointers, he always feels that the game is out of control

On Jan. 5, Madison Square Garden, Jeff Van Gundy felt like a front-row spectator.

The Knicks couldn't do anything inside in the face of Juvan Howard and Chris Webber's onslaught, but the Wizards still trailed.

Li You, Alan Houston, and Larry Johnson continued to score points, and both sides almost gave up defense, and the score rose slowly.

In the end, 105-113, relying on a stronger offense, the Knicks managed to win the game.

Lee Yoo was 10-of-18, Alan Houston was 10-of-17, and Larry Johnson was 7-of-14 for 76 points, making the New York fans happy in the audience.

Jeff Van Gundy just glanced at the technical stats and was completely stunned that tonight's game didn't go as planned.

The bald young marshal's sad and joyless appearance also made Walter Fraser in the commentary seat nod secretly:

"Coach Van Gundy made a very timely adjustment, and when the interior line was not dominant, we took the initiative to speed up and finally won the game thanks to the good projection of the boys."

"The coaching staff has done a great job and the New York fans don't have to worry about it, we're on the right path!"

“.”

The frenzied praise from the New York media after the game made Jeff Van Gundy feel empty again.

On the training ground, the players train step by step, but when it comes to the game, the plan is always not fast to change, and the bald young coach sometimes cannot predict the outcome of the game.

With the all-star voting channel about to close, the New York media continues to canvass for Li You, constantly poisoning milk!

As a result, after revenge on the Nets, the Knicks are happy to lose three in a row

After losing to the Bulls, SuperSonics, and Hawks, the Knicks' record came to 29-7.

The in-form SuperSonics team has caught up at this time, with a record of 29 wins and 8 losses, and the first place in the league almost changed hands.

Despite consecutive losses, New York fans won't care, the Knicks are still the first in the league and still lead the East.

On January 19, the NBA league announced the results of the 98 New York All-Star vote, and the starting lineup of the Eastern and Western Conferences was officially released.

The poisoned milk of the New York media still played a role, and in the Eastern Conference guard vote, Michael Jordan was far ahead, and Lee Woo also managed to get the starting position.

1.028 million votes, Mai Kou won the All-Star vote king for the 9th time in his career, the only one in history.

With 518,000 votes, Lee Woo finally managed to surpass Anfernee Hardaway's 509,000 votes and entered the All-Star starting lineup for the first time in his career.

In the voting of the Eastern Forward, the real Jordan's successor Grant Hill received 839,000 votes, and Sean Camp of the Eastern Journey received 518,000 votes;

The two beat Pippen and Rodman to become the starting forwards in the East.

At the center position, Mutombo received 476,000 votes, a large margin ahead of Alonzo Mourning, and was elected as the starting center of the Eastern Conference All-Star without any suspense.

The results of the Western Conference All-Star voting were also somewhat unexpected, with the Lakers' Kobe Bryant finally getting 396,000 votes and successfully getting the starting spot.

Gary Payton received 556,000 votes, with both outperforming Stockton.

There was not much suspense about the results of the Western Conference Forward's vote, with Karl Malone receiving 616,000 votes and Kevin Garnett 513,000 votes, and the two easily got the starting position of Western Forward.

In the center position, O'Neal ended up with 565,000 votes, just over David Robinson's 549,000 votes.

The Sharks played for the Lakers in the All-Star Game for the first time in their careers.

After the results of the voting were announced, most of the old guys were just lemons, obviously, the league is about to be renewed, and there are too many young faces in this All-Star Game.

On the night of the 19th, before the game against the Celtics, Lee Woo was also interviewed in the locker room.

There were two or three layers of people inside and outside in front of him, and the New York media was in a good mood, and everyone helped Li You to wave the flag and shout for more than two months, and finally squeezed out Anfernee Hardaway!

"Lee, congratulations on getting the All-Star starting spot and holding the All-Star Game in New York, will you participate in the three-point shooting contest in addition to the main game?"

Li You saw that everyone was looking at him, and immediately replied affirmatively:

"Of course, I've accepted the league's invitation to win the three-point contest in front of the fans in New York, and I thank everyone for their support!"

Although Li You smiled and took out a loan for a single championship, the reporters around him didn't care, but coaxed to agree, and before the game started, everyone was happy again

"Lee, will you fight for the All-Star Game MVP? This is our home turf! ”

Li You touched his chin, and then suddenly said playfully:

"Last year I only seemed to score 2 points, not to talk about MVP, this year I just want to score more points!"

“.”

Thank you for your subscription support~

QAQ will be updated on time at 22 o'clock tonight,

Yesterday's manuscript changed a bit too much~

(End of chapter)