Pick Westbrook

Chapter 216 Christmas Eve

12 month 24 day.

Christmas Eve.

The Bucks have achieved a record of 21 wins and 7 losses, with a winning percentage of 75%.

"In the previous few seasons, this record could at least be ranked in the top three in the league, and it is not surprising that it is even the first."

"But this season, the Bucks' record can only rank fifth in the league."

Barkley couldn't help but sigh.

Because of the Bucks' style of play and sudden rise, they have completely disrupted the entire league.

In order to surpass this defending champion team, the teams in the East have made a very large lineup reinforcement.

The Heat's Big Three naturally bear the brunt, followed by the Bulls, but the New York Knicks did not make people shine in the new season because of the team's running-in problem.

"The current record of the New York Knicks is 16 wins and 12 losses, ranking only fifth in the Eastern Conference."

"They look like they should be the worst team in the offseason to make a lot of reinforcements."

It's just that even such a Knicks team, there is still no team in the league that dares to underestimate it, because they defeated the Lakers 112:108 in the last game.

安东尼27分7篮板3助攻，小霸王斯塔德迈尔25分8篮板，比卢普斯18分3篮板6助攻。

"The Knicks have shown their own extremely strong offensive ability. Coach Mike D'Antoni has built this team into one of the best offensive teams in the league."

"The team ranks third in the league in scoring with 111 points per game."

Kenny Smith is extremely looking forward to tonight's game.

One is the Bucks, whose team averaged 118 points per game and ranks first in the league's offensive team, and the other is the Knicks led by D'Antoni, who is known for fast-paced whirlwinds.

Both teams are extremely good at offense, but they play completely differently.

Madison Square Garden.

Fans in the Big Apple were beyond excited.

Before the game started, Spike Lee, their most loyal fan, walked towards Li Lai directly.

"We'll beat you tonight, defending champions."

After finishing speaking, Spike Lee raised his fist childishly and threatened, wanting to show the toughness of the Knicks.

Tyronn Lu was worried that Li Lai, a tactical madman, only stayed in the office to study tactics all day, and he probably didn't know Spike Lee at all, so he introduced him in a low voice.

"He is the most famous filmmaker, director, screenwriter and actor in Hollywood."

"Oscar Awards, Cannes International Film Festival, Venice International Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival, Emmy Awards, British Academy Film Awards, French César Awards, Palm Springs International Film Festival Gala Awards."

"Every movie and TV award you can think of has his name."

"I heard that Marvel's Spider-Man is planning to shoot the extraordinary series recently, and I plan to ask the other party to guide me."

Li Lai nodded. He had naturally heard of Spike Lee, but the scene at this time was completely opposite to Li Lai's imagination.

"Li Lai! Of course I have heard of your name."

"You defeated Zen master Phil Jackson in the finals last season. Popovich thought you were a top coach in the league. Coach Larry Brown even claimed that you started the small ball era."

"But our New York Knicks are not afraid of you, because we have Carmelo, Amare, and Chauncey."

"So, wait and die."

Spike Lee looked at Li Lai very arrogantly and said, even making a cobra-threatening look with his hands.

Li Lai pressed down the opponent's snake-shaped hand and said, "Spike, stop making trouble. Tonight is Christmas Eve. Don't allow such a ferocious animal to come out."

Spike Lee still said arrogantly: "Who told the Bucks to go to Madison Square Garden tonight, this is your grave."

At this time, the two security guards who maintained the order of the fans at the scene watched Spike Lee run from the Knicks camp to the away Bucks side.

Even if Spike Lee is the most loyal Knicks fan, he is still a fan after all.

As a fan or a public figure, how decent is it to go to the opponent's team and shout?

So the two security guards walked up to Li Lai and said, "I'm sorry, Coach Li Lai, Spike didn't mean anything malicious, it's just that his personality was born like this."

After finishing speaking, the two of them pulled Spike Lee to push him back to the auditorium, but the latter still refused, and was very arrogant to continue to find Li to yell at him for another [-] rounds.

Li Lai waved at Spike Li and said, "Sit back in the auditorium obediently, you mascot of the Knicks."

"Ah! I am XXXXX"

Spike Lee, who was scolded as a mascot, was furious, and when he was being carried to the other side of the field by two security guards, he even tried to chop Li Lai, the bastard, into pieces.

Because of the love of the Knicks and the fact that the team has never had a mascot, fans of other teams make fun of Spike Lee as the Knicks' hidden mascot.

For this reason, Spike Lee has often had disputes with these fans.

Although in his eyes, being said to be a mascot is also an honor to live and die with the Knicks, but when it is said from the mouths of fans of other teams, it completely changes the flavor.

Spike Li, who sat back in the auditorium, folded his hands and his belly rose and fell, and looked at Li Lai who was opposite him very angrily.

"You will definitely not be our opponents tonight."

on the field.

Bucks regular starting lineup.

Knicks starting lineup: Point guard Chauncey Billups, shooting guard Bill Walker, small forward Carmelo Anthony, power forward Amare Stoudemire and center Jared Jeffer Reese.

The referee's whistle blows.

Game start.

Cousins ​​is extremely confident and grabs the first wave of offensive balls from the 211cm Jared Jeffries.

The Bucks attack.

Westbrook advances with the ball.

Chauncey Billups is very experienced and takes a step back to defend Westbrook throughout the whole process, just not giving the opponent a chance to easily break through and get inside.

Curry slid from the bottom line to the top of the arc, Bill Walker failed to keep up, and Curry made a quick shot from outside the three-point line.

"Compared to Billups' extremely experienced defense, Bill Walker is much worse."

Marshall said with great certainty.

Li Lai did know something about Bill Walker.

The opponent was originally a talented swingman from Kansas State University, a top 2008 popular draft pick in 10, but because of his three knee injuries in 5 years, his entire career was overshadowed.

In the end, Bill Walker also fell to the end of the second round before being selected by the Wizards.

Those three knee injuries also greatly affected Bill Walker's athletic ability. You must know that he was called Carter Jr. in high school.

So now Bill Walker has transformed into a three-point shooter, averaging 38% of his three-pointers this season.

But in terms of defense, when Teby is facing a flexible player like Curry, he will almost be completely hung up.

Barkley also saw this detail on the court.

In fact, the Knicks, with Anthony, Stoudemire and Billups, should have been one of the biggest favorites to win the championship.

The reason why their record from the beginning of the season to the present is not good is that Anthony is not a player who is good at defense, and neither is Stoudemire.

Billups' defense is good, but he's 35 years old this season.

You can't expect a 35-year-old veteran to defend his opponent while desperately trying to defend his teammates.

So don't look at how well the New York Knicks played on the offensive end this season, they performed extremely poorly on the defensive end.

Kenny Smith said: "This kind of defense met the Bucks, and it was not directly spent."

Barkley shook his head with certainty and said, "Then you underestimate Anthony, Stoudemire and Billups too much."

The Knicks attack.

Billups held the ball across half court and directed his teammates to run.

Anthony's lower position attracts defensive attention, Stoudemire puts up a high post and Billups picks and rolls.

The pick-and-roll between the two is completely at the textbook level.

With Villanueva completely behind, Stoudemire cuts down to the box and Billups lobs the ball.

boom!
Overlord raises the tripod!

The bully Stoudemire scored with a dunk.

"This offensive tactic is played very beautifully!"

Even Tai Lue, who was his opponent, couldn't help but praise at this time.

Li Lai also felt that this pick-and-roll tactic was extremely ornamental and practical.

It's just that this is not the first time Li Lai has seen such a textbook-level pick-and-roll tactic.

He obviously remembered that he had met him in the previous two seasons, but he just didn't remember it for a while.

"correct!"

Seeing Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni, Li Lai suddenly remembered.

It's the Suns.

The Nash and Stoudemire pick-and-rolls of the Suns were equally efficient and extremely offensive.

Looking at it now, doesn't the Knicks just play the same pick-and-roll tactic?

Stoudemire is still the same Stoudemire, but the passer has changed from Nash to Billups, who is also a traditional point guard.

Li Lai was suddenly shocked. It turned out that the Knicks' team building idea was like this!

They first got Mike D'Antoni, who helped the Suns create a whirlwind, and then got Stoudemire, who had played smoothly under Mike D'Antoni, through a trade.

In this way, the master and apprentice joined forces again, and the Knicks obviously wanted to reproduce the Suns' ultimate 7-second offense.

Originally, the Knicks wanted to make persistent efforts to continue to win James, a free agent.

With the little emperor's passing ability, Stoudemire will definitely be able to eat comfortably in the interior, and the combination of the two will definitely make a difference in the East.

But the crux of the problem is that at that time the whole world was staged to find James, and everyone didn't know where James was going.

The management of the Knicks has almost turned the whole of Cleveland upside down, but there is no sign of James.

They are not as patient as other teams to continue to consume. It happened that Anthony had a very unhappy time in the Nuggets, so he took the lead in the big deal that shocked the entire league.

"In addition to getting Anthony, the Knicks also got FMVP Billups who is good at passing and controlling the field."

"In this way, their lineup has been fully formed. It stands to reason that such a lineup should become the top team in the league without any problem."

"But that's exactly what went wrong."

"The Knicks have no one on defense!"

"Terby is their two stars Anthony and Stoudemire are not good at defense."

Madison Square Garden auditorium.

Seeing Stoudemire's iconic overlord raising his tripod and scoring a dunk, Spike Lee raised his right hand very excitedly.

He drove the atmosphere of the audience, and said arrogantly towards the Bucks coach bench: "Li Lai, you bastard, you are finished!"

The game continues.

The Bucks continued to attack.

Cousins ​​received the ball inside and singled Jared Jeffries one-on-one.

A savage turn and one-handed dunk scored.

Barkley nodded and applauded again and again.

"Cousins, a player, has improved obviously every game since the opener."

"He's almost perfected the low-post game in the paint."

"This player is really, really good at learning offensive skills."

After dunking, Cousins ​​said excitedly to Spike Lee, "I'm damn!"

Seeing this scene, Tyronn Lue couldn't help smiling and said, "Coach, Cousins ​​probably saw Spike Lee greeting you, so he scolded you back."

Li Lai nodded, this is why he likes Cousins.

Straightforward big boy character, never beating around the bush.

If he likes it, he likes it. If he doesn't like it, he can't pretend to like it anyway.

It's just that Cousins ​​is too easy to make mistakes, and his temper is relatively stubborn, so someone must watch him carefully.

Li Lai couldn't help heaving a long sigh at this moment.

"Don't look at how well Cousins ​​played this season, he didn't even act irrationally on the court, and the team training off the court is also being diligently completed."

"But his temper has never changed, and his style of play still does not abandon the ball-holding offense from the outside."

"It's hard to say whether it's a good thing or a bad thing, but I hope it's a good thing."

Now Cousins ​​is completely controlled by Artest, and Li Lai also has a certain deterrent effect on him.

It's hard to imagine what Cousins ​​will look like without Lee after Artest retires one day.

Knicks coaching bench.

Mike D'Antoni frowned in displeasure.

Although he is an offensive coach, this does not mean that he can accept the attitude of players without any defense on the court.

Just now Cousins' low-post single shot against Jared Jeffries, no matter who watched it, he should clearly know that he should go forward to double-team.

After all, Jared Jeffries only weighs 105 kg. Regardless of his height of 211cm, he is actually a standard long pole player.

What Jarred Jeffries is least good at is defending Cousins, a powerful low-post offensive strongman like Cousins.

So at this time, the Knicks players should go to double-team Cousins.

But the picture on the court is that no one went to double-team.

The ones who should have gone to double-team the most are the small melon Anthony and Stoudemire on the front line.

The crux of the matter is that neither has a great willingness to defend.

"If it's because of poor defensive ability, I'll admit it, but you little Melon Anthony is someone who can fight Kobe Bryant in the playoffs."

"Stoudemire's flexible lateral movement ability is almost the same as that of Garnett. Even if you don't have Garnett's exaggerated defensive coverage area, what's wrong with using your moving feet to help defend?"

As a result, the two just watched Cousins ​​force Jared Jeffries inside and easily scored the ball.

Mike D'Antoni has a hard time.

Because he knows very well that once he complains that the two leading cores do not participate in the team's defense, the result will only be him packing up and leaving.

Swish!
Turning his head, Anthony singled out Artest and scored a mid-range shot.

"That's Artest!"

"Melo Anthony is worthy of being an offensive kaleidoscope, and his singles skills are really strong."

"Except for Kobe, perhaps only Durant of the Thunder can be compared with Anthony in terms of singles ability in the entire league."

Madison Square Garden once again sounded like a tsunami of shouts.

Big Apple City fans firmly believe that they finally waited until the Knicks savior appeared.

Spike Lee even worshiped on the sidelines.

"This is Anthony, look at Li Lai."

Mike D'Antoni watched Artest's success in such an arrogant singles of Melo, and also joined the cheering camp, nodding to indicate that Anthony is awesome.

But soon Mike D'Antoni suppressed all the fake emotions and watched the court shaking his head again and again.

If it's just about offense, Anthony is definitely better than James before this season.

But in the comparison of defensive end and other abilities, Anthony is too far behind James.

And as the Heat have won 27 consecutive victories this season, James' ability has been completely placed in front of the eyes of fans all over the world.

"He already has an unsolvable low-post offensive ability!"

"Almighty!"

"This is James this season."

The first quarter is over.

The Bucks and Knicks staged a big scoring drama, which directly ignited the fan atmosphere in the Big Apple City.

It was a very exciting Christmas Eve.

At 40:38, the Bucks led by two points.

Anthony scored 20 points in a single quarter, completely like no one.

"This is Anthony at his best. This is Anthony at his best offensively."

Tyronn Lue proposed to start double-teaming Anthony.

After all, the opponent's touch in tonight's game is really too hot.

But Li Lai decisively rejected the proposal.

Tyronn Lue was a little confused, so he asked for advice: "Coach, Anthony is a historical level heads-up player, and Terby's touch is still so hot in tonight's game."

"If he continues to attack like this, he may even score 50 or 60 points."

Li Lai nodded and said, "Anthony is indeed a historical level singles player, but he is not at the historical level in terms of stability."

"He can score 20 points in a quarter, but can he score 81 points in a game?"

"Even if he can score 50 or 60 points, is the offensive efficiency efficient enough?"

Seeing Anthony so obsessed with attacking, Li Lai hoped that he would continue to attack like this.

Of course, double-teaming Anthony is not a completely unfeasible method. After all, his passing ability and ability to break double-teams are not strong.

But Li Lai still decided not to double-team Anthony.

The reason is that the head coach of the Knicks, Mike D'Antoni, is the league's top offensive tactician. He knows how to use the abilities of offensive players to maximize the team's overall offense.

In addition, the role players of the Knicks are almost all good offensive players, so Li Lai didn't want to bet on the touch of these role players tonight.

He just wants to see if you Anthony can kill the Bucks alone.

On-site commentary desk.

Barkley and Kenny Smith have been completely mobilized by the first quarter of tonight's game, and they even began to look forward to tomorrow night's Christmas game.

"The Heat have not lost a single game since the opening game. They have achieved a 27-game winning streak that scares the entire league."

"You know, this is the second-best winning streak in the entire history of the NBA."

"Except for the 33-game winning streak created by the Lakers that year, no one has surpassed this height."

"More importantly, the Heat's winning streak continues, tomorrow night's Christmas game against the Bucks."

"As long as they win this game, they can continue to hit the record of 33 consecutive victories."

Kenny Smith would like to say that every game of the Heat now attracts a tsunami of reporters and media to interview.

The Heat, who were originally the Big Three, have already attracted countless traffic, and now they have won 27 consecutive victories, and some fans have begun to cheer for the finale of the league.

The game continued in the second quarter.

The Knicks added point guard Tony Douglas, shooting guard Roger Mason, small forward Landry Fields, power forward Sean Williams and center Ronnie Turiaf, nicknamed the Butcher. .

The Knicks' bench lineup is also competitive, but what doesn't disappoint is that they are all offensive players.

Dragic and McGrady are both at home in the face of such a lineup, helping the Bucks to score consecutive points.

And O'Neal completely gave up his role on the offensive end, and worked hard to help defend the Knicks' offense.

Halftime is over.

The Bucks continued to expand their lead with 75:68.

The two teams scored a total of 133 points in the half, which also broke the new record for the two teams scoring in the half so far this season.

The game continued in the second half.

Westbrook and Curry teamed up to expand the Bucks' lead.

And Anthony, who played well in the first half, still wanted to be the savior in this quarter, relying on his unparalleled offensive ability to close the score for the team.

But throughout the third quarter, Anthony's touch returned to normal levels, making 10 of 4 shots and only scoring 8 points.

The last quarter of the game.

Curry succeeded in closing the elevator in the bottom corner consecutively. This is also the Bucks' killing tactic at critical moments.

With the poor defense of the Knicks, Curry can successfully score almost every elevator door.

Curry made 5 of 3 shots with a three-point explosion in the final quarter, which directly ruined the Knicks' efforts.

144: 125.

The Bucks won this extremely critical Eastern Conference contest.

库里三分球12投6中，砍下了39分3篮板2助攻的数据，威斯特布鲁克26分7篮板14助攻。

Cousins ​​scored his rookie season high in this game with 24 points and 14 rebounds.

Of course, the highest scorer in the game was Melo Anthony, who made 36 of 17 shots and 7 of 7 free throws. He scored 41 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists.

Spike Lee was extremely helpless in the auditorium, his face was drooping, and he hadn't realized how the Knicks lost.

Anthony scored a high score of 41 points, so he lost.

After Li Lai shook hands with coach D'Antoni, he walked over deliberately, looked down at Spike Lee who was in a bad mood and said.

"Hey, Spike, long time no see, you also came to watch today's game."

"How is it, how is the Bucks playing?"

Spike Lee looked at Li Lai who knew what to ask, and his teeth itched with anger.

"It's been a long time, we just met before the game."

"How did the Bucks play, the Bucks won! I know!"

after the game.

The Bucks are back in Milwaukee.

For them, this Christmas Eve is no time to play or even spend time with the family.

Because of the upcoming Christmas game, all Bucks players are very nervous.

The entire coaching staff, including the Bucks, was in the same mood.

Li Lai notified all the staff to rest as soon as he returned to Milwaukee, and he will not even hold a team training match tomorrow afternoon.

Even the pre-match warm-up training before the Christmas game was canceled by Li Lai.

Tyronn Lue said very puzzled: "Coach, the Heat are our biggest opponent in the Eastern Conference this season, we should"

"I know."

Li Lai interrupted Tyronn Lue very positively and said: "But that's the way I don't want the players to have too much psychological burden."

"I can see that everyone wants to beat the Heat too much, especially the three Bucks idiots Cousins, Curry and Dragic."

"The three of them were already excited when they were on the plane."

"Fans all over the world want to know if we can end the Heat's 27-game winning streak, and even the rest of the league really wants us to do it."

"After all, the Heat this season are the league's public enemy."

"But I still want to say that the Bucks don't need to carry such a big burden."

The Bradley Arena is the exclusive office of Li Lai.

Holloway hadn't waited for Li Lai to come back here, she knew that he probably wouldn't spend Christmas Eve with her again tonight.

So Holloway held a beautiful apple in her palm, closed her eyes slightly, and said with trembling eyelashes.

"Every year is peaceful, every year is safe, I wish my grandpa is safe and sound."

The little girl's voice suddenly paused at this moment, and then she continued to speak with her cheeks flushed and her eyes closed.

"Sui Sui Ping, Sui Sui An, I wish Li Lai Ping safe and sound."

　Was delayed by something.

　　Better tomorrow.

　　What's up, brothers.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)