NBA: The Basketball Miracle

After the Christmas game, the Knicks only had two games left to play in 1997.

New York fans are still in a state of self excitement.

Every victory over Michael Jordan will set off a new round of loan frenzy.

Before the playoffs, the championship has already belonged to New York!

After easily defeating the Raptors who were diving for the No. 1 pick, the Knicks won a big away win over the Magic on the evening of the 30th.

Anfernee Hardaway was still injured.

From then on, the 1997 schedule was all over.

After flying back to New York overnight, Lee could spend his 20th birthday peacefully at home.

Not long ago, the Knicks celebrated Charles Oakley's 34th birthday, but the old man still failed to get a contract.

Grunfeld believed that Oakley had begun to decline.

Although this operation is a bit ruthless, if we only look at Excel, Oakley's performance is indeed not as efficient as last season.

The chain reaction of Ewing's injury is that the team needs Oakley to participate more in defense and fight for rebounds more.

Too much energy was consumed on the defensive end, and on the offensive end, Oakley had a mediocre touch in many games and missed all his mid range and long-range jump shots.

It is difficult to evaluate the Knicks' choice.

Giving a big contract to a 34-year-old short center does involve a lot of risks, but it is more because the owner will be completely replaced in two years.

Everyone on the Knicks team knew that Charles Dolan's good son was an out-and-out playboy.

He inherited his father's business and the team was just a transfer.

To make his statement to this person, Grunfeld did the same thing as all the general managers in the league - save money.

The Knicks, located in New York and never having trouble selling tickets, are actually very rich, but how the new owner builds the team is not up to the general manager.

Regardless of the internal situation, the Knicks finally finished 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 dissatisfied.

With Ewing absent, he even played a defensive performance, but the management remained indifferent.

Including this season, the old guy has played for the Knicks for 10 years, during which time his salary was not much.

In Oakley's opinion, a big contract at the end of his career is what he deserves!

Lee did not choose to have a very ostentatious birthday party.

Ewing is seriously injured, the future of several veterans is uncertain, and he is destined to get a big contract, so it is inevitable that he will be criticized.

"While the Knicks have achieved an amazing record, whether they can go further in the playoffs depends on whether Ewing can recover in time."

"We can see that the Knicks' rebounding has problems after Ewing was injured. In the playoffs, this problem will be magnified!"

"No one will let go of such a flaw. In the high-intensity defensive playoffs, once the efficiency of Lee and Alan Houston declines, it will be difficult for them to win."

In the TNT studio, Kevin McHale spoke freely.

The legendary star was not polite and almost said directly that the Knicks could not win the championship.

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

"The Knicks' rebounding doesn't seem to be a big problem. They are currently playing an extremely efficient offense, and with the dual cores on the outside, it is difficult for any team to really limit them."

"You may not know Lee, he is not Reggie Miller, his excellent dribbling skills can help him get to the offensive area he is good at."

"I've played against him. He's not the kind of guard we think of who just passes the ball to the big guys, nor is he a pure scorer like Michael Jordan."

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

"In my opinion, he is more like Kevin Johnson, who scores 20 points and then gives out 10 assists, but the difference is that Lee is better at shooting!"

"."

In a Manhattan apartment, Lee leisurely watched two people arguing on TV.

TNT's program is very professional, and the retired stars' comments on the league's popular teams are even more convincing.

This year, Lee only invited Ivan to his birthday party.

However, before the party started, his friend started to lose interest:

"I seriously suspect that these commentators have amnesia. A few days ago, McHale was still saying that the Knicks were the team with the best chance of winning the championship, but now he has changed his tune."

In Hartford, as long as Ivan read the newspaper, he would see news praising the Knicks every day.

Through passive attention, he also discovered the fence-sitting nature of these media.

Lee didn't care about it.

He was not Ewing and really liked to see these basketball commentators comment on him.

Be it criticism or praise, as long as it brings fun, Lee thinks the show is worth watching:

"Mutual understanding, everyone wants to make money! In the future, there may be a platform where not only commentators but also fans can speak freely."

Lee suddenly missed the days of keyboard warriors, but Ivan's eyes lit up and he thought this was a good idea.

He said excitedly:

"This is a good idea. We should make it happen!"

"."

Lee didn't say anything, just looked at his friend teasingly.

Soon, Ivan realized that both of them were technical idiots, and immediately changed his tone and said,

"We can invest in it! Just like investing in Yahoo, it's incredible! Their stock price is rising too fast!"

Seeing his friend getting more and more excited, Lee knew that he was blinded by the soaring market value of Yahoo again.

Jerry Yang is almost an idol for young people of this era.

Everyone loves the "Chief", or in other words, everyone loves the billionaire!

On January 1, 1998, the first day of the new year, the NBA announced the best player of the month for December, and the Knicks' Clay Lee successfully won the award:

The Knicks had a record of 11 wins and 3 losses in December, and Clay Lee averaged 34.3 minutes per game, averaging 20.5 points, 3.4 rebounds, 9.4 assists, 1.8 steals and 2.1 turnovers;

He averaged 14.6 shots per game with a shooting percentage of 46.3%, 6.9 shots per game from beyond the three-point line with a three-point shooting percentage of 42.5%, and 4.6 free throws per game with a free throw shooting percentage of 85.7%.

The performance of almost 20+10 made the New York media praise him heavily on the first day of the new year.

With the help of Excel, the title of "No. 1 point guard" began to become well-deserved.

Data can reflect the strength of the players, and big data can also reflect the players' playing style.

The commentators were not blind.

Three-point shots accounted for half of the total, and for two-point shots, Lee also mostly concentrated them below the left and right blocking areas.

Coupled with the number of medium-range attacks, Lee's data looks extremely efficient, and his true shooting percentage of 61.5% can explain something.

When Lee won the award, the Chicago media began to feel sorry for Michael Jordan.

In December, the Bulls also had an 11-3 record, with Jordan averaging 37.4 minutes per game, averaging 28.4 points per game and shooting 45.2%.

In general, except for the Christmas game where he made 8 of 20 shots,

Michael Jordan played very well in most games.

The New York media was not polite at this time.

In addition to digging up the past and mocking Michael Jordan for losing the Christmas game, they also fanned the flames:

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

"Without the league's care, the Bulls wouldn't have made it to the finals last year!"

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

As for the fact that Michael Jordan only took 1.1 shots from beyond the three-point line, no one cared, just criticize him!

Anyway, there is always a reason.

On January 2, the Knicks challenged the Nets away, and the inside duo of No. 2 pick Keith Van Horn and Jason Williams poured cold water on the New York media.

96:103, the Knicks played well offensively but ultimately lost in the paint.

Van Horn made 9 of 16 shots, 3 of 5 from beyond the three-point line, and scored 29 points, while Jason Williams made 5 of 8 shots and scored 11 points and 15 rebounds, including 7 offensive rebounds.

In the first game of the new year, the Knicks players were not very motivated, and grabbing rebounds is a very strenuous task.

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

Fortunately, in the subsequent back-to-back games, the bottom-ranked Magic team provided warmth, thus avoiding a losing streak.

On January 4, after the morning filming session, Jeff Van Gundy couldn't help sighing:

"We should add another inside player. Dudley is not suitable for starting. His finishing at the basket has some problems."

Assistant coach Thibodeau doesn't want to get involved in this topic.

Everyone knows that general manager Grunfeld doesn't care about the bald young coach's opinion.

On the other side, assistant coach Don Chaney didn't care about losing, and he was ahead in the record just to increase his margin for error:

"Larry's condition is getting better and better, and Lee has activated everyone. Losing some games can also help us better integrate the lineup."

Jeff Van Gundy also heard Don Chaney's subtext:

"Ewing is too seriously injured, give up the inside attack!"

Ewing can score points steadily as long as he wants to, but other inside players cannot do this.

Jeff Van Gundy was a little helpless about this.

Every time he saw the team take a lot of three-pointers, he always felt that the game was out of control.

On January 5, at Madison Square Garden, Jeff Van Gundy felt like he had become a front-row spectator.

The Knicks' inside line had no way to deal with the consecutive attacks from Juwan Howard and Chris Webber, but the Wizards still fell behind.

Clay Lee, Alan Houston and Larry Johnson kept scoring points, and both sides almost gave up on defense, and the score kept rising.

In the end, 105:113, relying on stronger offense, the Knicks successfully won the game.

Lee made 10 of 18 shots, Alan Houston made 10 of 17 shots, and Larry Johnson made 7 of 14 shots.

The three of them combined for 76 points.

Such performance made the New York fans at the scene very happy.

Jeff Van Gundy was completely stunned after just one look at the technical statistics.

Tonight's game did not go according to plan at all.

The bald young coach's expression of neither sadness nor joy also made Walt Frazier in the commentary booth nod secretly:

"Coach Van Gundy's adjustment was very timely. When we were not dominant in the interior, we took the initiative to speed up and finally won the game with the excellent shooting of the boys."

"The coaching staff has done a great job. New York fans don't have to worry about this. We are on the right track!"

"."

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

On the training ground, the players train step by step, but when it comes to the game, the plan can never keep up with the rapid changes, and the bald young coach sometimes cannot predict the outcome of the game.

As the All-Star voting channel is about to close, the New York media continues to canvass for votes for Lee and keeps saying bad things about Hardaway!

As a result, after the revenge against the Nets, the Knicks suffered three consecutive losses to the Bulls, Supersonics, and Hawks, and the Knicks' record has reached 29 wins and 7 losses.

The Supersonics, who were in good form, had caught up at this time, with a record of 29 wins and 8 losses, and the top spot in the league was almost lost.

Despite consecutive losses, New York fans will not care, as the Knicks are still number one in the league and still far ahead in the Eastern Conference.

On January 19, the NBA announced the results of the 1998 New York All-Star voting, and the starting lineups for the Eastern and Western Conferences were officially released.

The New York media's bad words did work.

In the voting for Eastern Conference guards, Michael Jordan was far ahead, and Clay Lee also successfully won the starting position.

With 1.028 million votes, Jordan won the All-Star vote lead for the 9th time in his career, the only one in history.

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

In the Eastern Conference forward voting, Grant Hill, the true Jordan

successor, received 839,000 votes, and Shawn Kemp, who traveled to the East, received 518,000 votes;

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

At the center position, Mutombo received 476,000 votes, far ahead of Alonzo Mourning, and was unsurprisingly elected as the starting center for the Eastern Conference All-Stars.

The voting results of the Western Conference All-Stars were somewhat unexpected.

Kobe Bryant of the Lakers finally received 396,000 votes and successfully won the starting position.

Gary Payton received 556,000 votes, and both of them received more votes than Stockton.

There was not much suspense in the voting results for the Western Conference forwards, with Karl Malone receiving 616,000 votes and Kevin Garnett receiving 513,000 votes.

The two easily won the starting positions for the Western Conference forwards.

At the center position, O'Neal finally received 565,000 votes, just surpassing David Robinson's 549,000 votes.

This was the first time in his career that Shark played in the All-Star Game for the Lakers.

After the voting results were announced, most of the old guys were jealous.

Obviously, the league is about to be renewed, and there are too many young faces in this All-Star Game.

On the evening of the 19th, before the game against the Celtics, Lee also accepted an interview in the locker room.

There were two or three layers of people surrounding him.

The New York media was in a good mood.

They cheered for Lee for more than two months and finally squeezed out Anfernee Hardaway!

"Lee, congratulations on getting the All Star starting position. In addition to the main game of the All-Star Game held in New York, will you participate in the three-point contest?"

Lee saw that everyone was looking at him eagerly, and immediately answered affirmatively:

"Of course, I have accepted the invitation of the league. Winning the three-point shooting contest in front of New York fans is also a way to thank everyone for their support!"

Even though Lee happily loaned a single championship, the reporters around him didn't care.

Instead, they cheered and agreed.

Before the game started, everyone was excited again.

"Lee, will you strive for the All-Star Game MVP? This is our home court!"

Lee touched his chin, and suddenly said playfully:

"Last year I only got 2 points, not to mention the MVP. This year I just want to get more points!"

"."

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