Champion, please stay!

Chapter 97, Section 95: Quick Fight!

Moreover, this mini-climax combined individual skills, small-scale tactical coordination, and defensive counter-attacks, demonstrating a very well-organized approach.

This isn't like last season's players like Crawford, Fred Jones, and Big Q, who would just huddle together in front of the defense and randomly shoot, hoping for a good touch!
This is such a wonderful surprise for New York fans!

Their expectations for the Knicks this season were only one thing—that the damned management and the damned coaching staff must nurture their BIG.

Yi Shui only needs to be able to do it alone; there are no other requirements.

But this start has given them something to look forward to!

That was a beautiful fast-paced attack!

The Heat made a roster rotation, with Spoelstra replacing Beasley with James Jones at Wade's request.

In the preseason, rookies should be given more playing time.

But Spoelstra dared not disobey Wade, whose expression was so serious.

At this time last year, Spoelstra was still holed up in his office editing game videos, and everyone thought he was just 'the next Van Gundy,' another puppet pushed out by Pat Riley, including himself.

Wade naturally thinks so too. His current goal is to showcase his abilities to other superstars and attract helpers to join him.

And... we're waiting for the fortune teller to return!
The master and apprentice worked together to expand and strengthen their business, creating even greater glories!

On the other side, D'Antoni didn't make any substitutions. After praising the players' performance at the start of the game with a flushed face, he let the starting five continue to play!

After the timeout, the Heat launched a fierce attack!

Cook is a shooter who can assist in passing, plays unselfishly, and moves actively; James Jones is a high-quality team role player developed by D'Antoni, with excellent positioning awareness and shooting ability; Marion and Haslem are both excellent at receiving shots and cutting to the basket.

Led by Wade, who was fully focused and truly engaged in the game, the team unleashed a fierce offensive barrage against the Knicks' terrible defense!
Wade originally just wanted to warm up tonight, but he didn't directly respond to Yi Shui's 'one-on-one' invitation, saying that he would let his 'performance' speak for itself, and that the game had to be won!

At the time, he thought that beating the New York nursing home would be a piece of cake. But he was down by 9 points at the start, so he had to go all out!

But the Heat's offense was fierce, while the opposing team's firepower was even stronger!
In the past three years, in the eyes of New York fans, Big Q was only good at forcing his way up to the defense and taking random shots. Tonight, he was able to appear in the receiving lane of his teammates with the ball and rediscover himself in the run-and-gun offense.

Swift's screens, while not particularly strong, are never perfunctory; his timing for drives is always excellent, and his dunks are incredibly explosive.

Curry can shoot, drive, and pass, although he lacks the intensity of each skill. Occasionally, when he is in a situation where he needs to rely on his individual ability to solve the problem, he seems quite powerless. However, he is very smart and tries his best not to let the ball stay in his hands. He also seems to have a natural understanding with Yi Shui and can always find Yi Shui to pass the ball to him.

David Lee can shoot and drive, has a good sense of positioning, is strong on offensive rebounds, and can also score in one-on-one situations in the low post when needed.

With Yi Shui orchestrating the offense, the Knicks' positional attack flowed very smoothly, resulting in a continuous stream of goals!
Counter-attacks are a relatively poor combination of this lineup; they just rush in, go one-on-one, and pass the ball when double-teamed. But they are fast enough!

Another point is that while the Heat's roster has improved in terms of offensive spacing and shot selection, their defense remains weak.

Cook has 3 without D.

James Jones was developed by D'Antoni from players who had no team to play for, so his defense is undoubtedly excellent.

Marion is very professional, doing what he's supposed to do, but he's completely lost the relentless attitude he had when he played for the Suns.

Haslem, to put it nicely, is a blue-collar center who can handle all the dirty work and has above-average blue-collar skills in all aspects, but he doesn't have any outstanding abilities. He was completely helpless against David Lee one-on-one.

He was even hit by a high-reaching floater by Yi Shui, who received the ball at close range and turned around with his back to the goal!

Moreover, when the Knicks' team offense stalls, he can pass the ball to Yi Shui Lun!
...

After the first quarter, the Heat had scored 33 points.

But the Knicks scored 41 points!
Wade fought hard for a quarter, but the point difference didn't actually narrow!
In the second quarter, Spoelstra continued to adjust the lineup around Wade's offense and continued to launch a fierce attack;
D'Antoni continued to make minor adjustments to the starting lineup and continued his aggressive attack.

Yi Shui has always been the Knicks' most important development target, and with such a strong lineup in the very first game, they definitely need to play more games with him. That's what the preseason is all about.

In the final moments of the first half, Yi Shui received a lob pass from Du Hong during a counterattack. He faked a shot, took a step to dodge Wade's closing defense, and then jumped from the right side of the basket, slamming the ball into the hoop with one hand.

The Knicks extended their lead to double digits, 76-65!

As Wade's long-range three-pointer from half-court missed, the halftime buzzer sounded!
As the fans in the arena chanted "BIG," Wade looked at his stats on the big screen.

He made 7 of 13 field goals and 6 of 8 free throws, played the entire first half, scored 20 points and had 6 assists, yet was still down by 11 points!
He foresaw what kind of situation he would face in the new season.

Big Cheeks: I've never fought a battle with such poverty in my entire life!
… On the other side, Yi Shui celebrated with high-fives and hugs to his teammates, and waved to the fans, looking very excited.

He played 19 minutes in the first half, with short breaks after the official timeout in the first quarter and before the official timeout in the second quarter.

After scoring 9 points at the start, he only managed 8 points in the next ten minutes, but his shooting percentage of 6 out of 9 was the highest in the game!
策应进攻他在库里和杜洪辅佐下，做得也很好，阵地战中有3次助攻、反击中有1次助攻，半场17分4板4助攻1抢断2盖帽！

During the training camp, Yi Shui felt that their lineup had potential, and after the actual battle proved it, he was naturally happy.

Although this is just a preseason game, the opposing superstar played the entire first half, so it was definitely played like a real game!
However, Yi Shui still saw many problems.

First and foremost, he needs to diversify his individual offensive strategies.

For example, in several possessions, he would stand in the paint and receive the ball, and his approach was very simple: drive to the basket, pull back, or back down and shoot a strong shot.

The post-up game is already under development. In mid-last month, the team hired a professional low-post trainer for him, and he has already started practicing the most basic skills. Once he has a solid foundation, the team will hire a legend to teach him. He doesn't need to worry about that; he can just practice.

However, he needs to plan his close-range face-up offense carefully, something he didn't do when he played guard. Now, he will inevitably face situations where he needs to initiate attacks from close range frequently.

For example, after grabbing an offensive rebound, you can't just fake a move and then force a jump shot, right? You could take a look at the footwork of the Little Tyrant facing the basket...

If it weren't for the fact that they were facing a rebuilding Heat team tonight, these weaknesses would definitely have affected the team's offensive fluidity.

Another issue is his help defense and shot blocking. Aside from boosting morale and getting the fans cheering, he doesn't have any other substantial effect. His teammates still can't stop him.

As for the team, each teammate has their own strengths and weaknesses; you'll get used to it.

Curry entered the NBA a year earlier than expected, which had a significant impact. He remembered that in his original timeline, Curry averaged 17+ points per game in his rookie year, but he probably wouldn't be able to perform that well here.

Fortunately, they grew up in similar environments. Although there are differences between D'Antoni's "new style of run-and-gun" and Nelson's "traditional run-and-gun", they are very similar.

D'Antoni's 'old problem' was felt by Yi Shui in the very first game.

In the first half, despite running so hard, D'Antoni only used an 8-man rotation!
Besides the starters, only Duhon, Wilson Chandler, and Anderson were rotated onto the court.

They'd rather use Curry and Duhon as a dual point guard than Daniels, Chalmers, or others, even though both can play shooting guard.

The same applies to the inside game, with only David Lee, Anderson, and Swift playing in pairs.

There are definitely advantages. The established offensive strategy at the start of the game was maintained throughout the first half, demonstrating strong continuity.

But the weaknesses... the Suns team back then already demonstrated them all.

However, Yi Shui has no plans to discuss this issue with the head coach for the time being. For them, the most important thing right now is to get out of the quagmire of the 'Assassin Era' and head in the right direction.

...

The "duel" between Yi Shui and Wade ended after the first half.

After halftime, both players were placed on the bench, and both head coaches fielded other players.

Wade accepted the 'puppet coach's' arrangement. There was no need to push himself in the preseason, and he needed to calm down and adjust his mental expectations.

However, seeing how Beasley's team was completely outmatched by the opposing combination of Chalmers, Daniels, Wilson Chandler, Harrington, and Anderson when he wasn't present gave him a deeper understanding of the current situation.

He counted what the team needed him to do right now—score, help protect the board, organize the offense, defend the offensive leader one-on-one, help teammates on defense... He didn't count anymore; he probably needed to do everything.

In the following time, both Yi Shui and Wade were rotated into the game, but they tacitly avoided competing with each other and cooperated well with their teammates to practice team offense.

The score in the second half was 55-47. In the end, seven Knicks players scored in double figures, and the Knicks defeated the Heat 133-112!
The game had excellent viewership, with pay-per-view counts approaching 10 million, setting a new NBA preseason viewership record!

The post-match buzz was extremely high, exceeding what a preseason game should be like.

The number one and number two picks faced off on the NBA stage, and the number two pick, who made some boastful remarks before the game, was once again thoroughly defeated.

Yi Shui did not suffer a setback in his brief matchup against Wade; in terms of scoring, he even had the upper hand, leading his team to widen the gap.

The fast-paced style of play has swept into New York, and the Knicks' run-and-gun offense is beginning to take shape...

The Knicks and Yishui dominated the post-game news on the first day of the preseason! Behind this, the big boss must have played a significant role.

(End of this chapter)