NBA: Start by torturing Jordan and add points to upgrade

Two consecutive wins at the start is obviously not the Knicks' limit. This season, the Knicks are obviously stronger than last season!

Several of their players have made significant progress. If we have to point out a flaw in the team, it is the lack of a qualified backup center.

After Mourning left, Nelson could only let Stoudemire play the center position more often to make up for the time spent at the center position.

With the Knicks having enough players at positions 3-4 but a shortage of players at position 5, what Nelson did is the only reasonable rotation plan given the team's current personnel configuration.

But of course, Stoudemire, who is completely incapable of defending the 4 position, will naturally have the same defensive loopholes when he moves to the position.

When Stoudemire plays the 5 position, the team's 4 position is usually played by Smith, Wallace or Hill. These three are reckless, rough, and old, and their defensive effect is also not worth mentioning.

As a result, the Knicks' inside line will be the focus of attention and blown up by opponents in almost every game in the new season!
Moreover, they are not only bad at defending the 5th position, but the Knicks are also unable to defend the scoring 4th position.

Of course, defense has never been their strong point, but without Mourning, their weakness has become even weaker!

In the following game, except for Yao Ming's 40+20, the Knicks' inside line was almost ravaged by others.

Against the Wizards, Jamison scored 38 points and 19 rebounds. Against the Pistons, Rasheed scored 30 points and 10 rebounds. Against the Jazz, the Jazz's twin towers Boozer and O'Neal combined to score 59 points and 28 rebounds!
Against the Trail Blazers, an absolutely bad team that had lost five games in a row at the start, Randolph scored 5 points and 39 rebounds!
Throughout November, although the Knicks had a pretty good record, with 11 wins and 13 losses, firmly ranking first in the Eastern Conference, their inside line was exploded and penetrated in every game.

What’s worth mentioning is that although their inside line was blown up so badly and thoroughly, neither the media, fans nor opponents thought this was a problem!

Who can blame them for not only not declining but improving?
Last season, whether it was the Knicks' defensive statistics such as points allowed per game, opponents' average turnovers per game, opponents' average field goal percentage, opponents' average three-pointers per game, etc., they were either ranked 3th, 30th, or 27th. None of their defensive statistics exceeded 28!
On average, they were the worst defensive team in the league last season!

The kind that's rotten to the core.

If a team like this can win the championship, there is no doubt that their offense is absolutely epically powerful!
This season, their defense has improved.

Even though they were blown up like this in the interior, their overall defense still improved!
From 30th overall last season, the Knicks improved to 27th this season!

The 3 teams behind them are also quite interesting!

They are the Suns, who are fourth in the Western Conference with 10 wins and 5 losses in the first month.

The Seattle SuperSonics, 5 wins and 10 losses, are third from the bottom in the Western Conference.

And the Orlando Magic, who only had 4 wins and 12 losses in the first month and were second to last in the Eastern Conference.

The four teams at the bottom of the defense include two of the league's top teams and two of the league's top underdogs. It's quite interesting to see these four teams appearing crosswise on the same list!

However, the reasons why these teams are at the bottom of the defense are different.

The Suns' defense was down because of an injury to their main center, Martin, who didn't play a single game in the first month. If they had Martin, the Suns' defense would definitely take a big step forward, at least improving to around 4th-6th from the bottom in the league!
As for the remaining three teams, their defense is bad for the same reason.

Just plain dish and rotten!

It’s just that the Knicks and the Suns were able to make up for more of the points they lost through offense, while the remaining two teams don’t have that level and ability.

This is also the reason why the four teams have equally bad defenses, but their records are so different!
Also in the first month of the new season, Lin Tian led the team to continue to be the first in the Eastern Conference. He also averaged 24.5 points, 11.2 assists and 10.8 rebounds per game and became the Eastern Conference Player of the Month in the first month.

However, for Lin Tian’s fans and the fans of the league, whether Lin Tian got a triple-double or won the Player of the Month award, it is no longer a trivial matter worth mentioning.

Everyone has adapted to it long ago, everyone has gotten used to it long ago.

It’s just the best player of the month. He has won so many MVPs. What else is there to say about the best player of the month?
After playing a very exciting series of games in November, the Knicks faced another strong enemy on December 11st!
Denver Nuggets!
Since the Nuggets selected Milicic in 03 and hired Karl, an open-minded coach who is good at giving his players confidence and allowing them to develop and improve freely, the team has finally gotten on the right track and their performance has been improving in recent years.

Although the team has never performed particularly well in the playoffs, the Nuggets are already recognized as a strong team in the regular season!
This season, after the introduction of Billups, the Nuggets' record has improved to a higher level!

After returning to his hometown, Billups played a very amazing performance in the first month. His shooting percentage, assist-to-turnover ratio and scoring statistics all reached the best state of his career.

In addition to Billups, the team's core player Milicic also continued his uninterrupted progress.

He finally made a step forward this season, averaging 24 points, 11 rebounds and 2 blocks in the first month! His data also made him officially enter the ranks of the league's first-line inside players. Many people believe that Milicic will definitely be selected for the All-Star Game this year!
And when the big brothers and second brothers of a team perform well and have the most brilliant performance in their careers, then the results of this team will definitely not be bad!

In November, the Nuggets had a record of 11 wins and 11 losses, ranking third in the Western Conference. If they can maintain their current record, Milicic may not only get an All-Star spot, he may also be selected to the league's best team!
Now, in addition to Milicic and Billups, the Nuggets also have Nene, a brave man who successfully returned after surgery, Marcus Camby, the league's multiple block leader, Kleiza and Najera, Eastern European double-season players, Reggie Evans, a rebounding maniac, and others.

Just looking at the name of this lineup, you can imagine the current style of the Nuggets.

They are a group of strong men, almost the new generation of gangsters in the league. The team's style is quite rough. A group of rough and tough, black and white forwards and inside strong men will give opponents extremely intense physical confrontation and non-stop friction in every game.

Their style is to compete with others to see who is more ferocious and more ruthless!

Coupled with the Nuggets' home court's altitude of more than 5000 feet, the Denver Plateau has become one of the most difficult home courts to attack in the entire league this year.

On December 12, the first game of the second month of the new season, the Denver Devils faced a very strong challenger at home.

New York Knicks!
These two teams have two completely different styles.

The Nuggets are fierce and domineering, playing a physical basketball of pure power and confrontation.

Their games are not flashy at all, and there are even very few dunks. The team's style is quite simple, but every simple Nuggets player is the kind of ruthless person who can take out a sharp knife or a hammer from his pocket at any time and smash it on your head!

The Knicks are a team that can run and jump, and they have a flamboyant style. Everyone plays basketball in a very beautiful way. As long as they have a game, they are sure to contribute several of the top ten plays of the day.

But the Knicks, these guys who pursue luxury, although they can’t take out anything like kitchen knives or bricks from their pockets, they can take out Lin Tian!
They can bring out the top combat power in the league today. With Lin Tian here, no team dares to do anything to the Knicks. Unless they are guys who are tired of staying in the league and want to retire and stay in the hospital for a few days, no one will be willing to fight with the Knicks.

From this point of view, the Knicks and the Nuggets are quite similar.

The Nuggets, which are full of strong Eastern European men, are also one of the most difficult teams in the league!

And now, these two teams, which are completely opposite and poles apart except for their extremely strong fighting power, are about to start a war!
Before the game, apart from Lin Tian and Billups greeting each other and chatting casually, the other players of the two teams were not familiar with each other at all. Even Milicic kept staring at Anthony.

Obviously, this guy, like the others in the class of 03, thinks that he is the best and should be the top pick.

Precisely because most people on both sides were not familiar with each other, the atmosphere before the game started was quite solemn. Neither side spoke. Anthony even noticed Milicic glaring at him, and he immediately glared back fiercely.

Then Nene noticed Anthony glaring at Milicic, and Nene glared back... This went on and on, and after a while of glaring at each other, the atmosphere of the game became more solemn!
When the referee walked to the center line and prepared to kick off, everyone was shocked.

The referee looked to the left and was like, WTF! How scary! A bunch of strong men were staring at me!

I looked to the right, FUXX! So scary, another group of strong men were staring at me!
The referees instinctively thought: Tonight's game is going to be difficult to referee! These people might have some hatred that the referees don't know about. I'm afraid Yao will settle the score tonight!
As the game was about to start, the three referees looked at each other again and nodded at the same time.

Be careful tonight! You must control the situation well to avoid a fight!

Tonight, in addition to the four unshakable starting lineups of the Knicks, their starting number two position was replaced by Gerald Wallace.

This is not an adjustment specifically for the Nuggets, but Nelson has not yet determined who he will use as his starting No. 2! So far this season, he has used Hill, Wallace, Barnes and Houston as starters.

But these four players made old Nelson a little dissatisfied, so the team's starting lineup has not been officially determined!
All I can say is, there is hope for everyone!

On the Nuggets side, the starting point guard is Lin Tian's old rival Billups, and the No. 203 is Linas Kleiza, a 100 cm tall, 3 kg standard Eastern European giant! In fact, Kleiza is more suitable for the No. position, but George Karl put him at the No. position this season.

The team's number three position is another striker who came to the team from Eastern Europe, who is also 203 cm tall and weighs over 100 kg, Edodon Najera!
The Nuggets' 2-3 position configuration, not to mention things like ability and status, just looking at the fighting ability and height and weight, looking at all the 2-3 position partners in the league, these two might be ranked first!
The team's No. 4 position is their current leader, Darko Milicic!
Milicic was lucky in this life. He was not selected by Larry Brown, but came to the Nuggets and met George Karl, who was good at making players improve and adjust themselves to play better and better.

This is Milicic's luck! If he was in the Pistons, he would have become a "human victory cigar" again, with almost no protection and help, and finally left the NBA early, becoming a very famous bust second pick in NBA history.

But this time, Milicic's situation in the Nuggets is completely different. As soon as he entered the league, he was trained as the core of the team. Although he cannot compare with Wade, Anthony, James and others in terms of talent, his progress is quite fast.

This is only the fourth year of his professional career, but Milicic has already become a stable 20+10 machine!
As for the team's center position, it was Nene Hilario who underwent a surgery last summer that would make any man feel painful, and then rested for a whole year before finally making a successful comeback!

This brave guy is not easy to deal with just by looking at his face. He is also a gangster type of person!
This group of people constitutes the main five-man team of the Nuggets today!

Looking at the muscular bodies of these guys, Lin Tian couldn't help but sigh: "They are more suitable to be bodyguards for the Mafia than to play basketball here!"

Needless to say, this person who makes Lin Tian think he is a villain must be very ferocious in appearance, right?

If the Nuggets were to line up on the street, the police would most likely draw their guns and make them kneel down if they saw them.

They are obviously criminals at first glance!
However, for now, the Nuggets guys really enjoy the feeling of being villains.

Each one is more proud than the other, with their chins held higher than the other.

Lin Tian has plenty of ways to deal with this arrogant and pretentious opponent.

You raised your head high, right? Just right! When my buddies dunk on you later, keep this pose and don't move. Smell it carefully!
"Dudu!"

At this time, the referee blew the whistle, Okur and Nene jumped at the same time, and Okur got the first wave of ball possession for the Knicks.

After Lin Tian dribbled the ball quickly to the frontcourt, he began to observe while facing Billups' defense.

Then he discovered: the team was at a disadvantage in the confrontation!
Except for Lin Tian, ​​every position and every person on the Knicks are inferior to the other side in confrontation!
They were all pushed outwards by the opponent, and the core area of ​​the Nuggets' inside line was filled with Nuggets players.

Since his teammates couldn't get into the open space and couldn't find any opportunities, Lin Tian simply stopped waiting!
Facing his old rival Billups, Lin Tian suddenly took a big step forward with his right foot to the left, as if he was going to speed up and attack from the left side.

But just as Billups was about to shift his center of gravity to change his defensive position, Lin Tian moved first!

He turned on the toes of his right foot and twisted his hips at the same time, and suddenly his whole body turned from facing outwards to facing inwards!

Lin Tian's turn completely confused Billups! Because before this, Billups was still in front of Lin Tian, ​​but Lin Tian turned around for some reason, and Billups was surprised to find that he was parallel to Lin Tian!

By the time he finally reacted and wanted to turn around to complete his defense, it was too late!

Lin Tian had completely left him behind and suddenly accelerated towards Nene and Milicic under the basket.

"Oh!"

The first one to jump up was Nene. This guy collided heavily with Lin Tian, ​​but although it looked fierce, there was no substantial damage at all. At least Lin Tian's attack shape did not change at all.

Still in the same posture, Lin Tian was about to flick his wrist to send the ball out.

He suddenly found a dark shadow appearing from behind Nene!

Milicic!

This guy jumped high, calculated the timing, and fanned the basketball that Lin Tian was about to shoot!

In other words, Lin Tian's reaction was really quick. Before Milicic's slap came down, Lin Tian incredibly completed a pull-up shot in the air and avoided the block.

Then before he landed, he shook his wrist again.

"Shh!"

The basketball avoided all obstacles and went into the net obediently.

"Kid! If you want to challenge me, don't hide behind your teammates, come out and fight me one on one! A coward who can only hide will never grow up in his life!"

"Let's see who is the coward!" Milicic responded to Lin Tian's ridicule immediately.

On the offensive end, this guy didn't go inside to ask for the ball, but instead reached out one step inside the 3-point line to find Billups and get the basketball. Then, facing Stoudemire's non-existent defense, this guy made a fake shot to divert Stoudemire's center of gravity, and then suddenly lowered his body and rushed into the inside.

As soon as he entered the inside, Milicic turned around quickly and left Okur, who was coming forward to assist in defense, behind him.

Then this guy took advantage of the situation and slammed the ball into the basket with one hand!

"boom!"

After a loud bang, Milicic used a clever breakthrough that was almost completely opposite to his height and body shape to tie the score for the team! (End of this chapter)