Jordan: I thought he was there to help me!

Chapter 650: Another Big Deal Emerges Just One Month After the Competition Begins! We All Have...

105: 93!

With 4 minutes and 40 seconds left in the fourth quarter, the Knicks extended their lead to 12 points!

In about half a quarter, they unleashed a super offensive run that outscored their opponents by 22 points!

By this point, the Knicks players were completely in a state of high excitement, and this offensive surge had them incredibly excited!

Clearly, the Knicks weren't quite done yet! They weren't ready to stop.

A 12-point lead is not enough to satisfy them, and it's not time for them to relax!

Billups' attempt to pass to Milicic after arriving in the frontcourt failed once again. His bounce pass was successfully anticipated by the short and low-center-of-gravity Nate, who intercepted the pass. Nate then dribbled the ball at breakneck speed and rushed to the Nuggets' basket in the blink of an eye.

Then this guy, who is usually prone to getting carried away and making mistakes, suddenly calmed down. Instead of challenging Billups, he threw the ball directly into the air.

Lin Tian, ​​who had joined the fray at some unknown time, also sprang up, caught the basketball in mid-air, and then slammed it into the basket with both hands!

The gap is still widening!

But the Nuggets' resistance has become visibly weaker and weaker.

With two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, the point difference between the two teams had widened to 20 points!

117: 97!

At this point in the game, Karl decided to give up and substituted Billups and Milicic, his key players, as if to surrender.

Old Nelson was never the type to go to extremes or be unforgiving. As soon as Karl made a substitution, he quickly had his player commit a tactical foul, and the whole team went off the court, giving those benchwarmers a chance to play.

This night was relatively uneventful for the Knicks. Lin Tian easily recorded a triple-double, Anthony and Stoudemire each scored 25+ points, and Nate also scored double digits off the bench.

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

With Lin Tian anchoring the defense, Stoudemire and Anthony leading the charge, and someone from the bench stepping up to add fuel to the fire, everything was going smoothly.

Lin Tian witnessed Milicic's talent and strength tonight.

Of course, this wasn't the first time the two had faced off, but in previous matches, Lin Tian had only thought that the kid was alright, not bad, and had some potential, but that was about it.

All-Star? Most likely.

Best lineup? Maybe.

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

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

Perhaps it was Billups who injected fresh blood into the team, or perhaps it was the accumulation of the past few years that finally led to its explosion this year.

But anyway, Milicic's 33 points and 15 rebounds tonight showed Lin Tian why he was able to beat Anthony to become the second overall pick in 03, a year full of talented players.

He's absolutely bursting with talent!

It's a pity that his mentality and willpower were still lacking! When the Knicks were frantically chasing points and widening the gap in the last half of the game, Milicic's presence on the court wasn't very high. It's clear that the young man doesn't know how to play in such a disadvantageous situation.

But it's already pretty good. Luckily, this kid didn't run into Brown this time. Otherwise, no matter what happens when the game is going well or when it's going poorly, he would only be able to play garbage time in the last two minutes of the game.

In short, the Knicks narrowly defeated the Nuggets tonight, continuing to defend their position as the top team in the Eastern Conference!

However, the Knicks' position as the top team in the East is not very secure, as their rivals are closing in very closely!

Since the Nets and Pistons broke up and self-destructed, the competitiveness of the Eastern Conference has actually declined this season, but some teams have also made significant improvements and additions this year!

Boston Celtics!

Although they lost the team's most important and crucial number one player in the past few decades during the offseason, the team also brought in Parker, Ginobili, and Howard, the Pacers' three-man trio. The five-man trio, together with Duncan and Howard, are the Celtics' biggest asset this season!

At the same time, these five players displayed excellent chemistry and seamless teamwork from the very beginning of the season!

The whole team gives the impression that they have been playing together for 20 years. Their tacit understanding and naturalness amaze everyone!

At first, fans at TD Garden would boo Parker, Ginobili, and others before the game, because these three guys led the Celtics to trade away Pierce, their team's leader and absolute core for the past 10 years.

Regardless of his team's performance or his actual abilities, Pierce was a very popular and well-liked guy in Boston.

Fans love him!

But now he's been traded away by management without a word, and of course the fans aren't happy about it!

However, this dissatisfaction only lasted for about a quarter of the game. Soon, the fans of TD Garden gave a thumbs up and happily said: Hey, it's so good!

In short, the Celtics, having traded away Pierce, have officially taken off! It proves that when you have several large bills, breaking one up to get smaller ones can be incredibly effective!

So far this season, they have a record of 14 wins and 5 losses, trailing the Knicks by only a small margin! If the Knicks relax even a little and go on a losing streak, they could be overtaken in no time and lose their top spot in the East and the league!

It's also worth mentioning that Pierce, who was traded by the Celtics, didn't stay with the Pacers for long. Firstly, he and Granger, handpicked by Bird, overlapped too much, and secondly, the team's goal this year was to tank and draft new players, so Bird wanted to trade Pierce from the first day he acquired him.

This idea didn't last long, as it soon became a reality.

On the morning of December 2nd, the league once again witnessed a massive, high-profile trade.

The Pacers and Suns reached an agreement for the Pacers to send Paul Pierce, who was too old for their plans, to the Western Conference powerhouse Phoenix Suns!

The Pacers received a host 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 acquired have star-level ability or potential. What they have in common is that all three are top-tier pieces of the puzzle! They can do their jobs well alongside star players and make the team more complete.

Diaw's versatility, Bell's defense and three-point shooting, and Thomas's rebounding, defense, and shooting can all bring great help to the team. More importantly, all three are in their prime.

Bell is the oldest, but he's only 30. Thomas is 28 and Diaw is 24. They are in their prime and have a lot of experience. They can provide important experience to the Pacers, who are aiming for a younger and more future-oriented team, and help the team's new players grow quickly.

After this trade, the Pacers essentially traded three of their original key rotation players and All-Star fringe caliber players for a massive number of draft picks and three rotation players in the team's future plans, while also clearing salary cap space.

More importantly, the team can now confidently and boldly launch a dive attack on Durant, Oden, Horford, and others!

While the Suns gave up three key rotation players, they also gained an All-Star caliber offensive player!

The reason for this trade was that the Suns lost games because they lacked a reliable offensive option and ball-handler in crucial moments. When Nash's stamina declined, his weakness in physical confrontations was exploited by opponents, leading to many basic mistakes.

Apart from Nash, no one on the Suns, whether it's Martin, Marion, or anyone else, can relieve him of the pressure of handling the ball. This team has too many pure finishers, but no second qualified playmaker or initiator.

But now that Pierce is involved, everything is different.

The Suns have gained a clutch player, which will make them even more reliable in crucial moments!

Although the team is missing three key rotation players, firstly, D'Antoni's system doesn't require many rotation players to begin with. He usually plays an eight-man rotation that relies heavily on the starters, so losing a few players won't be a big deal.

Secondly, although they are missing three players, the team can still field a starting lineup of Martin, Marion, Pierce, Eddie House or James Jones and Nash, with Barbosa, who has had a breakout season, and veteran Kurt Thomas on the bench.

Furthermore, the Suns currently only have 14 players on their roster, leaving one open spot for adjustment. If a player is bought out and enters free agency mid-season, the Suns can still strengthen their roster!

After this trade, both the Suns and the Pacers got what they wanted, and both teams are quite satisfied, with bright futures ahead!

Of course, this trade has little to do with the Knicks. At most, it might strengthen the Suns, allowing them to continue their rise and cause some extra trouble for the Knicks on their path to defending their regular season championship.

But those are not things to worry about right now, because the Knicks don't have time to analyze the strength and record of their opponents. They have to focus on playing their own game well!

After defeating the Nuggets, the Knicks' Western tour was not over. Perhaps due to the aftereffects of playing at high altitude, they lost both of their back-to-back games against the SuperSonics and the Jazz after a day of rest!

Losing to the Jazz in these two games is understandable, after all, the Jazz's twin towers are playing quite well now, and they have been a Western Conference powerhouse and a playoff team for the past few years. The team has just been waiting for an excellent point guard to organize the team completely.

Once they find that excellent guard, they can take off in no time. But for now, they still have to wait and rely on their two inside players to force their way in.

But losing to the SuperSonics, who were in poor form and had a terrible year and were directly vying for the top pick, was truly unexpected.

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

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

This former Western Conference powerhouse is also in a state of near collapse this year, but they managed to defeat the Knicks at home, giving the team a slight respite. Many Seattle fans even hoped that this game would revitalize the team and boost their confidence.

Ideally, the team owner should keep the team and not sell it again.

After all, many people who want to buy a team are saying they'd buy the team, but only if it's moved out of Seattle!

As one of the most popular teams in the NBA market, Seattleites have devoted a large portion of their energy this year to protecting the team. They have been marching, petitioning, launching various votes and applications, hoping that the government or wealthy locals will step in to take over the team and keep it in Seattle.

For example, Bill Gates.

The world's richest man and the head of Microsoft are mentioned time and again by Seattle residents, and the entire city of Seattle hopes that this native Seattleite can step in to save the Supersonics.

Unfortunately, Gates was clearly not interested in the team. His good friend Paul Allen did like basketball, but he was already the owner of the Trail Blazers and could not own a second NBA team.

Given all this, it would be a miracle if the Supersonics had any good results this year.

This year is the most chaotic year for supersonics.

But they still beat the Knicks.

The Knicks arrived in Minnesota with two consecutive losses.

This is also the last game of their four-game road trip in the West!

The good news is that although the Knicks suffered two consecutive losses, they had two days of rest before facing the Timberwolves, which was enough for them to completely get over their slump and bad mood and go all out against the Timberwolves.

Bad news? Well, no bad news!

After the big trade that brought in Kidd during the offseason, the Timberwolves' record this year, while not drastically worse, is still negligible.

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

The team's poor record and lack of chemistry have infuriated the owner, who has stated that if the team's performance does not improve this season, he will definitely dismantle the team!

After selling Iverson, the team continued to dismantle itself, so the only players they could target were the team's greatest player in history and the absolute core of the past 10 years.

Kevin Garnett!

This year is destined to be turbulent for the Timberwolves!

As for the root cause of the turmoil, it was, of course, that transaction.

It's actually quite difficult to say whether Allen Iverson or Jason Kidd is the better player or the better guy.

Allen Iverson was a scoring champion and a superstar; he could score relentlessly.

Kidd is an assist king and a superstar; he can do everything except score points.

No one can really say which of the two is better, but neither of them is the kind of person who can be a perfect match.

Iverson needed someone to help him defend and set screens. He needed someone like Garnett to cover for him on the defensive end so that he could dominate on the offensive end.

Kidd needs finishers like Carter and Yao to score and put the ball in the basket, and then he can do everything else so his teammates can focus on scoring.

Looking at it this way, if Kidd and Iverson teamed up, it might actually be quite a potential collaboration.

But Kidd + Garnett?

These two guys are actually quite similar in some ways: neither of them is good at scoring, but both are good at everything else!

They overlapped!

Both of these individuals are outliers in the league; they are both super blue-collar workers, even MVP-level blue-collar workers and supports.

But none of them are the main attackers.

When both of a team's key players follow this path, it would be a miracle if the team were to perform 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 had a very consistent performance with 13.4 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 8.8 assists.

With the two core players' average scoring ability being truly insufficient, the team's top scorer this year is surprisingly Szczerbiak.

This pure white shooter, due to his attributes and playing style, became the primary passing target for the two veterans, and in a sense, he also became the most exhausted player on the Timberwolves team.

He is averaging 20.7 field goal attempts per game this season, while his highest average field goal attempts per game in the previous year was only 14.

In addition, his average score reached 22.4 points, making him the highest scorer on the team and a new career high.

However, his efficiency also dropped from a consistent 48% field goal percentage and 40% three-point percentage to 40% and 36%!

It's not that the players are feeding him bad shots; he still gets many open looks. The problem is, he's just too tired!

This guy isn't cut out to be a primary scorer. He's better at off-ball movement, catch-and-shoot, and spot-up three-pointers. As a result of the two big men's playing styles, Szczerbiak had to keep running, shooting, and battling throughout the game!

Whether it's the number of shots taken, the playing time, or the level of attention opponents pay to Szczerbiak, everything has reached the peak of Szczerbiak's career!

For Szczerbiak, a pure white shooter who had become the opponent's primary target for defense was an unbearable burden.

Whether it's ability, physical strength, physical strength, or playing style, he is not capable of shouldering such a heavy responsibility.

Unfortunately, the organization has decided that you are the one to vote!

If you don't vote, what will the two brothers do?

It was in this awkward and strained state that the Timberwolves had a poor record, poor team chemistry, and a terrible atmosphere within the team.

It seems that this team, which made a big trade this year, is about to become the biggest loser in that 5-team trade.

This haphazard team will face the struggling Knicks at home.

Both teams are in a bad situation right now, and they both want to beat their opponent and regain some confidence from them.

Unfortunately, the two teams are facing completely different predicaments!

Knicks: After two consecutive losses, they lost their top spot in the league.

Timberwolves: After playing for more than a month, they lost their playoff spot.

No matter how you look at it, these two teams are in completely different form! (End of Chapter)