NBA: The start beat Kobe Bryant in his old age

Chapter 167 You must conquer Madison Square Garden!
A five-star hotel near Madison Square Garden.

All the players of the Lakers just rested in the hotel for more than an hour before stepping into the Knicks' home arena.

This arena is one of the oldest arenas in the NBA, but the last time the Knicks won a championship was in the 70s.

Because of the management's inaction, the Knicks' performance in recent years has been poor, and they are basically an Eastern Conference team.

The last time they played in the playoffs dates back to the 2012-2013 season.

That season, their head star Carmelo Anthony led players such as Tyson Chandler and Iman Shumpert to the Eastern Conference semifinals, but was defeated by the Pacers led by Paul George.

That is to say, since that season, the Knicks have undergone a major change, and have been in a slump since then, going further and further down the road of being fat.

Although the Knicks' record is down, there are a lot of fans in the whole area.

The number of tickets sold by the arena every season is at the forefront of the league.

Not only that, the market value of the Knicks is also one of the best among the 30 teams. Of course, this has a great relationship with New York, a world-class metropolis.

The players had just played the game last night, and after coming to the training hall arranged by the Knicks for them, Scott did not arrange heavy training tasks.

But today's game is extremely important to them.

Judging from the recent schedule, the Knicks are considered to be the weaker opponents they have encountered.

The current record of the Knicks is similar to that of the Lakers. They are 23 wins and 30 losses, and they have basically bid farewell to the playoffs.

So for the Lakers, this is a good chance to win.

When the players were doing basic shooting training, Scott and team doctor Garivetti came to Kobe: "Kobe! Are you sure you want to play tonight?"

After Kobe made a three-pointer, he said without hesitation: "Of course! Scott, you know me, I didn't think about taking a rest."

Scott nodded: "Then you pay attention, Gary said that your injury is still not healed."

"Come on!" Kobe made another three-pointer, "It's not like you don't know my situation, unless I can't walk, I won't be absent."

Scott and Garivetti glanced at each other, spread their hands at each other, and said nothing more.

……

Seven o'clock in the evening.

When the Lakers players appeared at Madison Square Garden, they were greeted with extremely warm cheers and shouts.

"Kobe! Kobe! Kobe..."

The fans shouted Kobe's name neatly!
It wasn't until this time that Lin discovered that almost one-third of the fans in the home arena wore Kobe jerseys!

People who don't know may think it's at the Staples Center.

There are too many media reporters in this arena today, making it impossible to stand on the sidelines.

The spotlight of the audience was almost all focused on Kobe alone.

Although the black mamba is well-informed, he was shocked by today's scene!

He waved to the fans while blowing kisses.

The Knicks players who were doing shooting training also stopped shooting at this time and came over one after another.

The Knicks' bald head coach Derek Fisher trotted all the way to Bryant, and then hugged Bryant tightly.

He entered the league in the same year as Kobe, and also spent the peak of his career with the Lakers, following Kobe to win five championships.

Fisher also staged one of the most amazing lore in the playoffs: 0.4 seconds lore!

That lore goal has been talked about by many fans until now.

After he retired, he directly engaged in the coaching position. He has coached the Knicks for one season, and this is his second season coaching the Knicks.

Compared to his playing career, Fisher's coaching career with the Knicks has been a mess.

Under his coaching last season, the Knicks only achieved a record of 17 wins and 65 losses. They were at the bottom of the East and only lost one game less than the Timberwolves in the West.

The situation has improved this season, and the number of wins has surpassed last season. But if Lin Tian remembers correctly, Fisher will be fired by the Knicks in a few days, and his NBA coaching career will also come to an end temporarily.

After all, the Knicks with Anthony couldn't even make the playoffs, which is really unacceptable.

As one of Kobe's favorite teammates, Fisher and Kobe hugged for 2 minutes.

Kobe wanted to have a longer chat with Fisher, but the Knicks players were lining up to say hello to him...

Such a peaceful scene between the home team and the away team is rare in the NBA.

After greeting the players, Kobe had to greet the celebrities who came to watch the game.

Fans who can sit in the first row of Madison Square Garden to watch the game are either rich or expensive.

The tickets here are one of the most expensive tickets in nba.

For other teams in the NBA, the usual attendance rate is actually not high, but the Knicks tickets will never worry about not being sold, not to mention Kobe is here today!

When Kobe was busy greeting people, Nick Yang teased Lin Tian: "Lin! Those who didn't know thought it was a fan meeting, haha!"

Another half an hour passed quickly, and the game between the Knicks and the Lakers officially started.

The Knicks' starting lineup today is: Jose Calderon, Aaron Afflalo, Anthony, Porzingis, Robin Lopez.

The Lakers' starters are: Clarkson, Kobe, Lin Tian, ​​Tucker and Howard.

Judging from the lineup on paper alone, the Lakers are obviously stronger than the Knicks, but there are too many uncertainties on the court.

In the jump ball stage, Howard touched the ball first and patted the ball into Lin Tian's hand.

Today, it is the Knicks star Anthony who is defending Lin Tian.

Facing Lin Tian, ​​Anthony tidied up his iconic hairband, with a confident smile on his face.

Although Anthony has entered the NBA All-Star starter this season, at the age of 32, he is already at the end of his peak.

Although he has won many honors in his career, his good buddy James has already won two championships.

Lin Tian was able to move freely in the NBA thanks to Anthony's blessing, because he copied all the abilities of Anthony's peak period.

The current Lin Tian is more than twice as threatening as Anthony!
Mainly because Lin Tian's defense is much stronger than Anthony's.

For the first ball today, Lin Tian still chose to play singles by himself.

Looking at Anthony in front of him, Lin Tian didn't change direction directly, but suddenly accelerated and rushed in.

He didn't completely get rid of Anthony, but he directly shot a pull-up jumper two steps in from the three-point line, which is also one of Anthony's most commonly used weapons.

Swish!
The first mid-range shot is a hit!
Anthony didn't defend in time, and shook his head in frustration. When he returned to the frontcourt, he said to Lin Tian: "When did you learn all my offensive moves secretly?"

He has watched almost all the games of the Lakers this season, and he has long found that many of Lin Tian's offensive moves are very similar to him, especially the small probing steps and emergency stop mid-range shots.

In more than ten years of professional career, this is the first player with such offensive actions and his imagination.

Lin Tian was startled, but his expression didn't change. He smiled and said, "I've watched the video of every game of yours hundreds of times."

Now it was Anthony's turn to be surprised, he thought to himself, this kid is so good at it!There are not many young people who work so hard like him!

For a while, Anthony's attitude towards Lin Tian also changed.

At this time, the Knicks had the ball. After Calderon dribbled the ball through half court, he passed it to Anthony as a matter of course.

Anthony made a pass fake after receiving the ball, and then suddenly rushed inside.

Lin Tian himself copied Anthony's peak ability, and he is too familiar with Anthony!The other party's fake moves can't fool him at all.

When defending outside the penalty area, Anthony braked instantly, and while stabilizing his figure extremely dexterously, he jumped high and made a mid-range shot!
Lin Tian's defense was already in place, but he still let Anthony throw in this difficult ball.

Fans cheered excitedly from the auditorium.

Now the home fans who come to the Knicks to watch the game basically come for Anthony and rookie Porzingis.

Such a goal can most arouse the interest of the fans.

For the Lakers' next round of offense, Lin Tian didn't take care of the offense anymore, but gave the ball to Kobe who was preparing to respond on the flank.

After Kobe received the ball, the cheers in the arena were even more enthusiastic than just now when Anthony scored!

It is really rare to encounter such a situation in an away game.

After Kobe took the ball, he directly chose to break through!
The Knicks' No. [-] Efflalo followed Kobe's footsteps, but Kobe rushed to the penalty area and forced a jumper, which caused Afflalo's foul.

It was a shooting foul, and Kobe went to the free throw line amidst the cheers of the fans.

"MVP! MVP! MVP..."

The fans shouted in unison, and many Kobe fans even stood up.

Bryant didn't disappoint, hitting two free throws amid the "MVP" chants.

The Lakers temporarily lead by two points 4:2.

After the Knicks served, Calderon organized the offense. This time, Lin Tian no longer allowed Anthony to easily catch the ball.

He pushed his speed to the limit and kept up with Anthony all the time.

Lin Tian's speed and his long arms were always in front of Anthony, so Calderon did not dare to pass the ball easily.

After hesitating for a while, he chose to try to break through Clarkson. Clarkson's defensive awareness was slightly poor, but his attitude was positive, so Calderon, a 35-year-old veteran, did not get rid of him. In desperation, he gave the ball to the big tall Porzingis.

Porzingis was the No. 2.21 pick last year. With a height of [-] meters, he is the tallest player on the field, but he played at the No. [-] position against Tucker.

Tucker is less than two meters tall, a full head shorter than Porzingis, and his body is always in front of this tall man, preventing the opponent from breaking through.

It turns out that Tucker thought too much, and Porzingis never thought about breaking through.

Porzingis, who was standing on the weak side, jumped slightly and threw the basketball to the basket with both hands.

Swish!
Hollow into the network!

The DJ of the Knicks yelled: "Two points scored! This time the score comes from our Kristaps~~!"

The atmosphere of the fans is high again, it can be seen that they love the rookie of the team very much!

But this is also normal. Porzingis is the No. 40 pick. Although he only played more than 14 games this season, he averaged 7 points and [-] rebounds per game. In the voting for the best rookie, he is currently second only to Lin Tian and Towns.

It's a bit of a coincidence to say that the two big men, Towns and Porzingis, who entered the league this year, are not traditional big men.

Compared with traditional centers, they don't like physical confrontation, but are better at floating outside, and they have a higher level of shooting.

Such a big man is the most popular big man in this era!

And this season's rebounding champion Drummond, I am afraid few people would have imagined that there will be a risk of unemployment in a few seasons.

The Lakers quickly served the ball, and Lin Tian handed the ball to Kobe again.

This time Kobe made a mid-range shot and missed. When he returned to defense, he said to Lin Tian: "Lin! Don't always pass the ball to me! You have to hit it yourself!"

Lin Tian scratched his head in a little embarrassment: "Okay."

Although the fans at the scene wanted to watch Kobe play singles, the reality did not allow them to do so.

If you want to win, you have to have Lin Tianlai!

When he faced Anthony again with the ball, he first passed the ball to Clarkson. After Clarkson returned the pass, he grasped the ball tightly with both hands, leaned forward, and took a step forward with his right foot.

This is Anthony's standard small step!
When Anthony saw Lin Tian's familiar movements, he smiled wryly and shook his head.

The fans at the scene apparently also discovered this:
"Damn! That kid is imitating Cameron's offensive moves!"

"Lin does often use tentative steps to test opponents, but he seems to use crossover more often."

"Cameron, come on! Give this kid some color!"

Lin Tian made three tentative moves in a row, creating a certain space for himself to attack.

Then he passed Anthony directly with his lightning-fast first step!So much so that Anthony didn't even have a chance to draw the ball.

Rushing into the inside line, Lin Tian entered the land of no one, and then scored a pull-bar layup against Robin Lopez!
Whoa!

This stunning performance instantly caused an uproar:
"That kid started the first step too fast! Cameron didn't even react!"

"The threat of this tentative step seems to be more threatening than Cameron's tentative step!"

"This is more powerful than Westbrook's physical fitness!"

The strength of Anthony is not defense itself. It is indeed not an easy task for him to defend Lin Tian.

He stared at Lin Tian's lever blankly, as if he had been electrocuted, and it took him a while to react.

When the Lakers returned to defense, Kobe was very satisfied with Lin Tian's ball just now. He patted Lin Tian's buttocks: "Lin! That's it! Keep it up! Do you know? If you want to become a unique superstar, you must conquer Madison Square Garden!"

Lin Tian nodded seriously, and then quickly ran to Anthony!To conquer Madison Square Garden, start by defending Anthony!
(End of this chapter)