NBA: Miracle Workers

Chapter 476 "What do you want me to do?" (Daily Chapter)

On Thursday, November 2006, 11, one month after Cardinal Auerbach's death, the New York Daily News chose to take advantage of the situation.

There are not many live broadcasts across the United States this month, and major sports programs are more focused on commemorating this legend. Retired celebrities gathered in Washington at the beginning of the month to attend the funeral.

Since the Celtics' current record is poor, everyone is reminiscing about the past at this point in time. In the long history of the NBA, Auerbach did dominate for many years.

But for New York sports media, that's all history:

"The Celtics' championship enjoyed the dividends of the league's early development."

"Modern basketball is a completely different product from the past. After the rules were perfected, the most dominant team in NBA history is undoubtedly the Knicks."

"We can cherish the memory of Mr. Auerbach, but the Celtics are just an ordinary team now, and their winning culture has long disappeared!"

There are more than one related column articles. The New York Times recently also popularized the differences between modern basketball and the past. This trend reached its peak at the end of the month.

The newspaper article is of course intended to cater to the fans. If you pay attention to Reddit, which has seen a recent explosion in traffic, you will find that New York fans are mocking their opponents.

After the start of the new season, although the Bulls have a mediocre record, the overall environment in the Eastern Conference is bad, so they can still expect to make the playoffs.

Many Chicago fans began to imagine the team rising again and restoring the glory of McDunk.

"Who wants to watch basketball from the early 90s? Those videos make me want to fall asleep."

"Paying to watch them fight for the ball in the paint? That was the worst era."

Most of the cynical voices come from young Knicks fans. Many of them started watching the team when D'Antoni took over, and they even criticized their team's first four consecutive championships.

After getting used to the current 90-round games, young people are not impressed by the Knicks' past 75 to 80 rounds of hand-to-hand combat.

After Reddit officially opened the sports section, it has been a chaos every day. The number of gamblers and cloud fans has increased day by day, and those who don’t watch the games or look at the data are having a lot of fun.

Even real football critics will go there to seek inspiration. After all, whether it is their personal blog, website column articles or professional content in newspapers, they are all for the fans.

What people like to see should be written accordingly. As for the real situation, it is not important.
The Knicks recently opened a Facebook account, and the operations staff has added a new job: taking photos and posting updates every day, and giving benefits to young fans at the same time.

Currently, the number of users of this social software has exceeded 1200 million. After Li You posted a family photo on Thanksgiving, the number of his fans just reached 300 million.

This is an extremely terrifying statistic. One-quarter of users followed Li You. Considering that the previous users were all young college students, many people saw the "business opportunity".

Li You is not as arrogant as some big stars. He occasionally replies to messages and affectionately calls fans "family members".
Even LSP, who just wanted to see pretty girls, had nothing to say about this. At least Li You expressed his respect to those who paid attention to him.

On Thursday's TNT show, the trio hasn't been doing anything active recently and were just quietly reminiscing. After holding it in for a month, Charles Barkley finally couldn't help but start complaining.

The show was supposed to review yesterday's game and discuss tonight's matchup between the Jazz and the Lakers, but Barkley fired at the Bobcats, pointing the finger at Michael Jordan:

"4 wins and 11 losses, Adam Morrison's performance is a disaster! I respect his basketball attitude, but the Bobcats should not have selected him with the second pick."

"They had a chance to accumulate excellent talent and then make it to the playoffs and make a difference. Now they can only continue to tank."

"Michael Jordan shouldn't be too involved in the team's operations. He seems to have forgotten his failure with the Wizards. Professional matters should be left to professionals."

As the former GOAT, whenever Michael Jordan appears in public, he is the object of consumption.

Kenny Smith glanced at his partner sitting on the far left and suddenly felt that if they continued to spend money like this, their friendship would break down sooner or later. Mike Dunk was not Li You and did not have that much entertainment spirit:
"It's only 15 games. We need to give the youngsters some time. Even Lee started as a substitute."

"Running a team is a long-term plan, and there is no need for us to draw conclusions so early."

Without giving Barkley a chance to interrupt, Ernie Johnson took the initiative to change the subject and talked about the second game between the Cavaliers and the Knicks last night:

"If the Eastern Conference Finals this year were the Cavaliers versus the Knicks, I think Cleveland has a chance to make the Finals."

"They have the depth of one of the few teams that can match the Knicks."

108:98, the Knicks won a narrow victory over the Cavaliers away from home. This was also the second time that Li You fought in the fourth quarter since the start of the new season.

出场38分钟，21中13，三分线外10中4，罚球11中10，40分7篮板10助攻3抢断1盖帽1失误。

ESPN commented that Li You's performance was mediocre. He made only 6 of 1 three-pointers in the first three quarters, which gave the opponent too many opportunities.
Speaking of this game, Charles Barkley once again pointed his finger at LeBron James and did not say anything good about Li You:

"I can't understand why LeBron James smiled after the loss, hugged Lee after the game, and even helped promote Lee's sneakers at the press conference!"

"Lee is now like Michael Jordan, they only care about business, they never speak out for other things, they only use their personal influence to make money."

"LeBron James should learn from his good friend Wade. He should compete instead of chatting and laughing with his opponents after the game."

"."

Due to the consecutive back-to-back away games last night, Li You was slow to warm up, the team's shooting was average, and the Cavaliers frequently launched transition offenses in the first three quarters. LeBron James also handed in some gorgeous data.

出场44分钟，23中12，三分线外8中3，罚球12中9，36分8篮板8助攻2抢断2盖帽3失误。

Apart from his poor long two-point jump shot, James frequently scored in fast breaks after pick-and-rolls and counterattacks. ESPN spoke highly of this, believing that this was James' best performance of the new season.

After the death of Red Cardinal, Michael Dunk recalled his competition with the Celtics in front of the media and expressed his respect.

Li You did nothing in the past month except for some polite words, and he did not go to Washington to attend the funeral.

When recalling the topic of Auerbach breaking racial discrimination and reusing black players, Li You did not speak out. Many basketball commentators followed suit and the "arrogant" remarks never stopped.

Looking at his partner who was constantly producing, Ernie Johnson raised an eyebrow at Kenny Smith, indicating that they had not yet talked about the Lakers and that young fans did not care about historical legends.

"Okay, Chuck, times have changed. Don't hold young people to your standards."

"The Jazz are currently 13-3 and in excellent form. The Lakers lost to the Bucks last night, and Kobe made 23 of 7 shots and only scored 27 points. I look forward to his performance tonight."

As soon as Kenny Smith finished speaking, Barkley on the other side fell silent. There was nothing to talk about the Lakers. They were not a championship-level team at all.

As for Kobe, his feud with O'Neal is also over.

75:83, the Jazz, who had a perfect start, defeated the Spurs last night and remained in second place in the league. Although this game was criticized by fans, head coach Sloan didn't care at all.

The old man is also keeping up with the times. In addition to continuing the pick-and-roll, he also gives more freedom to Deron, the core guard.

Deron Williams can be said to have taken advantage of Li You. If it weren't for the trend of two-way guards sweeping the league in recent years, it would be difficult for the second-year rookie to gain the full trust of the old coach.

9 wins and 5 losses, the Lakers have a good record, at least better than many fans expected. Fisher, who returned to the team, has become a hero in the hearts of many fans:
"Derrick is a true Laker"

Unlike most owners in the league, the Buss family is more focused on the team. When old Buss bought the Lakers, he almost emptied his family fortune, and the team's success also made him more wealthy.

Magic Johnson and old Buss have a deep friendship, which is also the team culture of the Lakers. The Buss family likes to make deep friendships with superstars.

Translated into simple and easy-to-understand terms, it means they are willing to be "lickers" to express respect.

The rise of the Knicks in recent years has also caused the Lakers to lose part of the market. The champion is still ridiculed as a "thief". Anyone would feel uncomfortable in this situation.

The Los Angeles Times cannot win an argument with New York, ESPN data is supreme, the Lakers are no longer "noble", they, like the Celtics, are out of date.

At 19:30 p.m. that evening, the Staples Center was not full. After the game started, although Kobe rebounded strongly and continued to score points, old Buss on the sidelines frowned.

Phil Jackson, who was standing nearby with his arms folded, did not look very happy. It was obvious that this was not the game content that the coaching staff expected.

Kobe made 16 of 10 shots and 5 of 2 free throws in the first half, scoring 22 points efficiently. The Lakers ended the half with a double-digit lead of 41:53.

Kobe Bryant threw the ball-sharing theory out of his mind at the beginning of the season. After losing, he just wanted to do what he does best.
Hollywood stars of all sizes still appeared in the front row to watch the game, but Jack Nicholson did not celebrate as happily as he had in earlier years.

The Lakers cheerleaders were still performing hard during the halftime break. When Buss stood up for an interview, he showed his masterful smile again:
"That's Kobe! No one can limit him when he wants to score. We all know that 81 points is not his limit!" "We performed very well. The Jazz are a strong opponent!"

The 73-year-old Bass is already paving the way for his family's future. Even though the box office and revenue are declining, the old man still has to come out and show off.

In the eyes of ESPN reporters, old Buss' smile is full of old age. The Lakers began to evade taxes. No matter how well they said it was, it could not change the result of relying on Kobe to sell tickets.

The once high-spirited playboy has become an old man. After a brief interview, the ESPN staff could only sigh in a low voice:

"Everything is over, and the Lakers have finally become an ordinary team."

When people miss the Celtics, they naturally mention the Lakers. Unfortunately, the recent heated discussions have failed to change the declining attendance, and this powerful team has begun to go downhill.

After the start of the third quarter, Kobe was in full swing, making 3 of 9 shots, 9 of 2 from beyond the three-point line, and 2 of 10 free throws, scoring 10 points in a single quarter, and the game entered garbage time.

At the Staples Center, Lakers fans cheered loudly for Kobe's performance. He played for 34 minutes, scored 52 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block and 1 turnover, and delivered perfect data.

In the end, the Lakers defeated the Jazz 102:132 and ended their November schedule.

Although they lost the game, Deron Williams still looked confident. When he was interviewed on the sidelines after the game and was asked about Kobe's 52 points, he even made a joke:
"We all knew Kobe could score, and on some nights, he was unstoppable."

"But I didn't want to play like him. After entering the league, Coach Sloan showed me a lot of Lee's videos. Young people know that only by playing like Lee can you win a championship."

"Kobe is great, but after Michael Jordan lost, the era of scorers is over!"

Kobe, who was also being interviewed, was not aware that he was being teased by the newbie. Although he scored 52 points, he did not smile at this time. He looked at the ESPN reporter and said in a serious voice with a sullen face:
"It's just an ordinary game, I still have a lot of work to do"

Kobe was in a good mood after winning the game. When he left the court, he took the initiative to hug and greet old Buss, and did not even look at Phil Jackson who had a serious expression behind him.

When attending the post-match press conference, Kobe was immediately furious when he heard the words of the "megaphones". He responded casually with a few words and put Deron and the Jazz on the "enemy list".

Phil Jackson, who was in a bad mood, spoke a few words to the players in the locker room and then came to Buss' office.

Although it was close to 23 p.m., attendance became a problem after the start of the new season, and general manager Kupchak could only report the team's situation to the old man.

There was a row of trophies behind the huge desk. The Staples Center was not full tonight. Old Buss was in a bad mood. He stood up to find some wine and said in a muffled voice:
"I had to spend $7710 million on these players! Fuck! $7700 million and now you tell me the ticket prices have to go down!"

Although the Lakers waived Brian Grant before, they still have to pay him $1485 million this year. They don't have to pay luxury tax, but it's still a lot of money.
The gray-haired Kupchak knew his boss's character and kept silent. Phil Jackson, who was standing by, was also furious. He looked at the old man drinking and complained directly:

"I've said it before, keep Shaq, the chaos started with that contract."

"You want me to pay 3000 million to support a fat guy who is declining? Shit! I've been following the news. He has been injured repeatedly in the past few years!"

"."

After Buss's speech, his face turned red. When he saw that the two were silent, he regained his composure. He followed the Knicks in raising ticket prices, but the fans didn't buy it, which really pissed him off:

"What do you want me to do? I want to see fans buy tickets, I want to see the team return to the Finals."

"I don't know. It's almost impossible to expect Kobe to lead the team to win the championship this year. We need more talented players!"

Kupchak noticed that Phil Jackson was staring at him after he said this, and for a moment he was annoyed. He didn't like Buss rehiring the old man from KFC:

"We drafted Andrew Bynum and you put him on the bench. Why do the Knicks' rookies always perform well?"

"They drafted a little guy who's less than 60 feet tall with the 6th pick, and now he can play as a backup for Lee! Our 7-foot talent still can't get any trust!"

"Fuck! What do you want me to do?"

In fact, Bynum has started to start this season and his playing time is increasing. The old man has led the team to good results, but the fans are not buying it.

The two men vented their emotions to each other, which made Old Bass feel overwhelmed. Finally, he shouted and interrupted:

"OK! Trade! We need superstars, tell the fans we want to return to the finals."

The office suddenly became quiet. Phil Jackson and Kupchak were silent again. The boss's request was like a fantasy to them. Lakers fans all saw the current situation in the league clearly.

"McHale wouldn't agree to our chips unless we put Kobe in the deal. The best players were in New York. We had no choice."

After waiting for a long time, Kupchak said something, and then there was silence again. Old Buss looked at the flickering night view of Los Angeles outside the window, and felt a little frustrated for a moment:
“Maybe lowering the price is the right thing to do?”

On December 12, the NBA announced the Player of the Month for the first month of the new season:
Li You of the Knicks and Yao Ming of the Rockets won the awards.

李佑在11月带队取得了16胜0负的战绩，场均出场32.0分钟，场均拿到30.6分4.9篮板10.0助攻2.6抢断0.4盖帽1.1失误；

He averaged 16.9 shots per game, shooting 60.4% from the field, and 6.5 shots per game from beyond the three-point line, shooting 47.7%;

He averaged 7.6 free throws per game and made 94.6% of his free throws.

After an efficient performance at the beginning of the month, Li You's data dropped and he missed a few games visibly, but he still delivered a double-double.

The Rockets had a record of 11 wins and 10 losses in November, and except for consecutive losses to the Knicks, their overall performance was very good.

场均出场35.6分钟，场均拿到25.7分10.1篮板1.7助攻0.5抢断1.7盖帽3.8失误；

He averaged 16.5 shots per game, shooting 54.4% from the field, and averaged 9.1 free throws per game, shooting 84.7% from the field.

Yao Ming's outstanding performance temporarily earned him the title of "the best center in the league", and some Lakers fans even began to dream on the Internet about recruiting the Rockets' cash cow.
New York entered the Christmas atmosphere early and taught this year's No. 1 pick a lesson on Saturday. New York fans wildly laughed at the "parallel import" Andrea Bargnani.

83:111, after the loss, the Raptors' record is 5 wins and 12 losses, and Chris Bosh has to continue to struggle with the team.

On Monday the 4th, Rockefeller Center held its annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony.

The cold weather could not stop the enthusiastic New Yorkers, and a large number of tourists also joined in the fun.

The Christmas tree is almost 27 meters high and is decorated with more than colorful LED lights, and a huge Swarovski crystal star is installed on the top.

After Mayor Bloomberg's brief speech, the trees began to light up amid cheers, and famous singers such as Christina Aguilera began waving to the huge crowd.

NBC will broadcast this free show live, and the Christmas carnival officially begins at this moment.

After MSG made a major overhaul this year, introducing a new logo and graphics package, the Dolan family also decided to add more entertainment.

Of course, sports are still the focus. The ratings of MSG Sportsdesk have been increasing year by year, and the new Knicks players have more opportunities to appear on TV.

James Dolan was also at the scene at this time. Unlike Li You who was surrounded by onlookers, the curly-haired boss was blowing X wildly in front of his own reporters:

"I received news that the Lakers are planning to lower ticket prices in the future. They are still continuing their clown show!"

"What can they offer to the fans? Go watch Kobe's scoring show? Forget it, their offense can hardly score 100 points."

"We can provide the fans with everything they want to see. If those teams don't double-team Lee, he can score 60 points every night!"

"Beautiful dribbles, magical passes, and powerful dunks! This is what the fans want to see. Our tickets are great value for money and our season tickets are in short supply."

Li You, wearing a black windbreaker, squeezed out of the crowd at this time. Georgina threw her father aside, quickly squeezed over here, put her arm around Li You's right arm, raised her head and said loudly:
"Why don't you go to my father's place? Mr. David Patterson, the future deputy governor, just mentioned you!"

The reporters around were still taking pictures. Li You exhaled a puff of white air, looked at the girl next to him and whispered helplessly:
"I don't want to deal with big shots on vacation. You know, Ivana is still waiting for me."

"How about we have a baby too?"

"?"

(End of this chapter)