NBA: Start by torturing Jordan and add points to upgrade

105: 93!

With 4 minutes and 40 seconds left in the fourth quarter, the Knicks widened the gap to 12 points!
In almost half a quarter of the game, they launched a super offensive wave that won them a net victory of 22 points!
At this point, the Knicks players were completely excited. This wave of offense made them extremely excited!
Obviously, the Knicks guys are not satisfied at all! They are not ready to stop yet.

A 12-point advantage is not enough to satisfy them, and it is not time for them to relax yet!
After Billups came to the frontcourt, his pass to Milicic failed again. His ground ball was successfully predicted by Nate, who was short and had a very low center of gravity, and he intercepted his pass. Then Nate dribbled all the way at full speed and reached the Nuggets' basket in the blink of an eye.

Then, this guy who was always easily impulsive and always made mistakes in attacking suddenly calmed down. Instead of challenging Billups, he suddenly threw the ball directly into the air.

Lin Tian, ​​who had followed up at some point, also jumped up immediately, grabbed the basketball in the air, and then slammed the ball into the basket with both hands!
The gap is still widening!

But the Nuggets' resistance was visibly getting smaller and smaller.

With 2 minutes left in the fourth quarter, the gap between the two sides widened to 20 points!
117: 97!

At this point in the game, Karl decided not to force it anymore. He waved his hand, replaced Billups and Milicic as assistants, and announced his surrender.

Old Nelson has never been the type of person who would beat someone to death or refuse to let him go. When he saw Carl making a substitution, he quickly asked the player to commit a tactical foul, and then the whole team left the court, and it was the turn of those water cooler players to play.

This night was a safe and secure one for the Knicks. Lin Tian easily got a triple-double, Anthony and Stoudemire each scored 3+, and Nate also scored double-digit points on the bench.

It's still the way they've always been good at winning.

Lin Tian was at the back, Stoudemire and Anthony were charging forward, and someone on the bench stepped up to add fuel to the team's fire. Everything was easy.

And Lin Tian also witnessed Milicic's talent and strength tonight.

This was certainly not the first time the two had fought against each other, but in the previous matches, Lin Tian just felt that this kid was okay, not bad, and had some potential, but that was all.

All-Star? Probably.

All-NBA? Maybe.

Anyway, Lin Tian didn't see how much better he was than Kukoc.

But this year, Lin Tian could clearly see the changes in Milicic.

Maybe it was Billups who injected new blood into the team, or maybe it was the accumulation of previous years that finally ushered in an explosion this year.

But anyway, Milicic, who scored 33 points and 15 rebounds tonight, made Lin Tian understand why he was able to beat Anthony and become the second pick in 03 when there were so many talented players.

It's really full of talent!

It's a pity that his mentality and willpower are still a little bit lacking! In the last half of the game, when the Knicks were frantically chasing points and widening the gap, Milicic's presence on the court was not high. It was obvious that the young man was not very good at playing in such an unfavorable situation.

But it's already pretty good. Fortunately, this kid didn't meet Brown this time, otherwise, he would have no choice but to play in the garbage time in the last 2 minutes of the game, regardless of whether the ball was with him or against him.

In short, the Knicks defeated the Nuggets without any danger that night and continued to guard their top spot in the Eastern Conference!
But the Knicks' position as first in the Eastern Conference is not very stable, as their opponents behind them are chasing very closely!
Since the Nets and Pistons disintegrated one after another, the competitiveness of the Eastern Conference has actually declined this season, but some teams have also been strengthened and made obvious progress this year!

Boston Celtics!
Although they lost the most important and crucial number one player in the team in the past few decades during the offseason, the team also introduced the Pacers' three quarters of Parker, Ginobili and Howard. The five-man team composed of these three plus Duncan and Howard is the Celtics' biggest reliance this season!

At the same time, these five people have shown perfect understanding and natural cooperation since the beginning of this season!

The whole team gave people the feeling that they had been playing together for 20 years. The tacit understanding and natural feeling made everyone marvel!
At the beginning, the fans of TD Garden would boo Parker, Ginobili and others before the game started, because these three guys caused the Celtics to trade away Pierce, the team's leader and absolute core for the past 10 years.

No matter how Pierce leads the team or how strong he is, he is a very popular and likable guy in Boston.

The fans love him!

But now he has been traded away by the management without a word, and the fans are certainly not happy!
However, this unhappiness only lasted for about one quarter of the game. Soon, the fans of North Shore Garden raised their thumbs and happily said: Hey, it smells so good!

In short, the Celtics, who traded away Pierce, officially took off! It turns out that when you have several whole bills, breaking one and exchanging it for zeros can definitely have a miraculous effect!

So far this season, they have 14 wins and 5 losses, only slightly behind the Knicks! If the Knicks relax a little and suffer a losing streak, they will be overtaken in a minute and lose the first place in the Eastern Conference and the league!
It is also worth mentioning that Pierce, who was sold by the Celtics, did not stay in the Pacers for too long. Firstly, he and Granger, who was selected by Bird, overlapped too much. Secondly, the team's goal this year was to draft bad players, so Bird wanted to trade him from the first day he got Pierce.

This idea did not last long, as it soon became a reality.

On the morning of December 12nd, the league once again broke out into a huge, shocking deal.

The Pacers and the Suns reached an agreement, in which they sent Paul Pierce, who was older and not in their plans, to the Western powerhouse Phoenix Suns!

The chips the Pacers got were a group of excellent pieces from the Suns: Raja Bell, Boris Diaw, Tim Thomas and three future first-round draft picks.

None of the three players the Pacers traded for have star-level strength or potential, but the most similar thing about these three people is that they are all top-notch puzzle pieces! They can do their job well next to the stars and make the team more complete.

Dio's jack-of-all-trades attributes, Bell's defense and three-point shooting, and Thomas' rebounding, defense and shooting can all bring huge help to the team. More importantly, these three are all in their prime.

Bell is the oldest, but he is only 30 years old. Thomas is 28 and Dio is 24. They are in their prime and experienced. They can provide important experience to the Pacers, who aim to be young and future-oriented, and allow the team's newcomers to grow quickly.

After this deal, the Pacers traded three of the team's original important rotation players and fringe All-Star players for a large number of draft picks and three rotation players who were part of the team's future plans, and also cleared up salary space.

More importantly: the team can now boldly dive towards Durant, Oden, Horford and others!
Although the Suns lost three important rotation players, they also got an All-Star level attacker!

The reason for this deal is that the Suns always lost in the past because the team did not have a stable offensive point and ball-holding point except Nash at critical moments. When Nash's physical strength declined, his general weaknesses would be seized by opponents, resulting in many low-level mistakes.

Apart from Nash, no matter whether it is Martin, Marion or anyone else on the Suns, can help him share the pressure of holding the ball. This team has too many pure finishing points, but no second qualified organizer and starting point.

But now with Pierce, everything is different.

The Suns have a new player with a big heart, and they will be more reassuring at critical moments!

Although the team is missing three important rotation players, D'Antoni's system does not require too many rotation players. He usually plays with an 8-man rotation of the main players. Now that a few people are missing, it doesn't matter.

Secondly, although three people are missing, the team can still come up with a starting lineup of Martin, Marion, Pierce, Eddie House or James Jones and Nash. On the bench there is also Barbosa, who has exploded this season, and veteran Kurt Thomas.

Moreover, the Suns only have 14 players in their current roster, and they still have a vacant spot for adjustment. If a player is bought out and enters the free market in the middle of the season, the Suns can still strengthen their team!

After this deal, the Suns and the Pacers each got what they wanted, both teams are quite satisfied, and they both have a bright future!
Of course, this deal has little to do with the Knicks. At most, the strengthened Suns may continue to rise, and then give the Knicks some extra trouble on their road to defending the regular season championship.

But those are not things to worry about now, because the Knicks will not have the time to analyze the strength and record of their opponents. They have to play their own game well first!

After defeating the Nuggets, the Knicks' journey in the West did not end. Perhaps it was the sequelae of playing on a plateau. After a day of rest, they played two consecutive games against the Supersonics and the Jazz, and lost both games!
Losing to the Jazz in these two games is understandable, after all, the Jazz's twin towers are playing well now, and they have been a strong Western Conference team and a playoff team in the past few years. The team has just been waiting for an excellent point guard to fully organize the team. As long as they wait for that excellent guard, they will be able to take off in minutes, but now, they still have to wait and can only rely on two inside players to play hard inside.

But losing to the SuperSonics, who were in poor condition and had terrible results this year and were heading straight for the No. 1 pick, was really unexpected.

Perhaps influenced by the team owner's desire to sell the team, the SuperSonics are in a panic this year.

Although their lineup has not changed much and is still centered around two excellent shooters, Lewis and Allen, the team just can't win this year. Even with a complete lineup in the first month, the team only had 5 wins and 9 losses!

This once powerful team in the Western Conference is in a half-dead state this year, but they just happened to beat the tough Knicks at home, giving the team a break. Even many Seattle fans hope that such a game can awaken the team's vitality and confidence.

It would be best if the team owner could keep the team and not sell it.

After all, many people who want to buy the team now say that they can buy the team, but they have to move it out of Seattle!
As one of the hottest teams in the NBA, Seattleites have spent most of their energy this year on protecting the team. They have marched, petitioned, initiated various votes and applications, hoping that the government or local wealthy people will take over the team and allow it to stay in Seattle.

For example, Bill Gates.

The world's richest man and the boss of Microsoft was mentioned again and again by Seattle residents, and the whole of Seattle expressed the hope that this native Seattleite could help save the SuperSonics.

But unfortunately, Gates obviously had no interest in the team. His good buddy Paul Allen liked basketball, but he was already the owner of the Trail Blazers and could not own a second NBA team.

Judging from these circumstances, it would be impossible for the Supersonics to have a good record this year.

This year is the most chaotic year for the Supersonics.

But they still beat the Knicks.

The Knicks came to Minnesota with a two-game losing streak.

This is also their last game of four consecutive away games in the Western Conference!
The good news is: Although the Knicks suffered two consecutive losses, they got two days of rest before playing against the Timberwolves, which is enough for them to completely get out of the predicament and bad mood and go all out against the Timberwolves.

Bad news, well, there is no bad news!
After the big trade to bring in Kidd during the offseason, the Timberwolves' record this year has not plummeted, but it is not worth mentioning either.

They only have 8 wins and 9 losses so far, and the team is only ranked 10th in the Western Conference!

The poor record and lack of chemistry in the performance also made the team owner furious. He even said directly: If the team's record does not improve this season, he will definitely continue to dismantle the team!
After selling Iverson, the team continued to dismantle the team. The person to be taken action would naturally be the number one player in the team's history and the absolute core of the past 10 years.

Kevin Garnett!
This year's Timberwolves are also destined to be turbulent!
As for the root cause of the turmoil, it was of course that one transaction.

It is actually difficult to say who is the better player and who is the better guy between Iverson and Kidd.

Iverson is a scoring champion and a superstar, and he can score continuously.

Kidd is the assist king and a superstar. In addition to scoring points, he can do everything else.

No one can really say who is better between the two, but it is clear that neither of them is a versatile type.

Iverson needs someone to help him with defense and pick-and-roll. He needs someone like Garnett to help him on the defensive end so that he can wreak havoc on the offensive end.

Kidd needs finishing points like Carter and Yao Ming to score and put the basketball into the basket, and then he can do everything else and let his teammates concentrate on scoring.

From this perspective, if Kidd and Iverson form a team, it might be quite promising.

But Kidd + Garnett?
In a sense, these two guys are actually quite similar: neither is good at scoring, but both are good at doing everything other than scoring!
They overlap!
Both of these two people are outliers in the league. They are super blue-collar workers, even MVP-level blue-collar workers and assistants.

But none of them are main attackers.

When the two absolute core players of the team are of this type, it is impossible for the team to do well.

从数据上就能看出森林狼队如今的问题所在，加内特首月场均数据是稳定无比的21.5分13.3篮板4.1助攻1.5抢断2.8盖帽。

Kidd also averaged 13.4 points, 6.9 rebounds and 8.8 assists.

With the average scoring ability of the two core players not being impressive enough, the team's top scoring point this year is actually Szczerbiak.

This white pure shooter became the number one passing target of the two big guys because of his attributes and playing style. In a sense, this guy also became the most tired person on the Timberwolves.

He averages 20.7 shots per game this season, and his highest average before this season was only 14 shots per game.

In addition, his average points per game reached 22.4 points, the highest scorer on the team and also his career high.

But his efficiency also dropped from the usual 48% shooting percentage + 40% three-point shooting percentage to 40% + 36%!

It’s not that the big guys didn’t feed him the ball well, he still had a lot of open shots, but the problem was, he was too tired!
My buddy is not cut out to be a main attacker. He is better at running without the ball, catching and shooting, and spot-up three-pointers. As a result, due to the playing styles of the two big guys, Szczerbiak had to run, shoot, and fight non-stop throughout the game!

Whether it is the number of shots, playing time or the degree of attention paid by opponents to Szczerbiak, all have reached the peak of Szczerbiak's career!

A white pure shooter has become the number one target of defense for his opponents. For Szczerbiak, this is definitely a burden that he cannot bear in his life.

Whether in terms of ability, physical strength, confrontation or playing style, he finds it difficult to shoulder such a heavy responsibility.

But unfortunately: the organization has decided that it is you who will surrender!

If you don’t vote, what will the two big brothers do?
It is in this awkward and twisted state that the Timberwolves have a poor record, poor team chemistry, and a bad atmosphere within the team.

It seems that this team, which made a big deal this year, is going to be the biggest loser in that five-team trade.

Such a twisted team will play against the Knicks, who have been in poor form, at home.

Both teams are not in good condition now. They both want to defeat their opponents and regain a little confidence from them.

But unfortunately, the two teams are now facing completely different difficulties!

Knicks: Lost the top spot in the league after two consecutive losses.

Timberwolves: Lost their playoff spot after playing for more than a month.

No matter how you look at it, the status of these two teams is completely different! (End of this chapter)