"The superstar showdown between Li Yan and LeBron James was really enjoyable. After last season's finals, the fans were not disappointed when the two met again."
"LeBron's COS shooting has improved a lot, and Li Yan has given us a huge surprise."
"Li Yan has strengthened his personal offense while revitalizing the team. He is so unstoppable."
"The intensive offseason training looks to be paying off and Lee is in great shape."
"It's too exaggerated. He uses the double CrOSSOver so skillfully that he is almost like Allen Iverson who is 20cm taller."
"With 23 points and 10 assists in the half, Li Yan has conquered the discerning New York fans."
"The Knicks have improved a lot. They are inextricably tied with last year's Eastern Conference champion Cavaliers."
Inside the Knicks locker room.
Isiah Thomas is emphasizing the importance of defense and he knows the Knicks' current weaknesses.
The Knicks' defense is really bad. Their insides are strong in offense and weak in defense.
Moreover, the team lacks running-in, and their defense changes are very chaotic; once the Cavaliers form a mismatch, they will always miss someone.
Fortunately, the defensive abilities of Li Yan and Artest are beyond doubt, which prevents the Knicks from becoming a "thousand-person assassin" like the SuperSonics.
If you can't defeat the Cavaliers by relying on defense, you can only rely on more violent offense.
Having "Taylor Swift" sitting on the sidelines is equivalent to having an extra "spare battery". Li Yan doesn't have to worry about his physical strength at all.
On the knight side.
James is equally calm. The Cavaliers' overall coordination is much better than that of the Knicks. This is James' confidence.
Obviously, all the Knicks' prosperity is based on Li Yan's super personal ability.
As long as Li Yan is strangled to death, the Knicks will still be the "rotten fish".
James actually admires Li Yan very much. He thinks Li Yan is very similar to him. Both of them are versatile ball-handling cores.
But James still believes that he is the stronger one, and the failure last season was just the gap in the team's overall strength.
This offseason, James has worked hard on shooting. By changing his posture and adding a lot of practice, his shooting stability has been greatly improved.
It's not at the top level, but it's enough to punish opponents who short him.
James has full confidence in his confrontation and physical fitness.
In the first half, James did not give Li Yan too much physical confrontation. There is no need to do so in the regular season.
However, the second half will be on a different level.
This opening game is of great significance to James. He wants to use a victory to tell everyone who is the future of the league.
…………
At the beginning of the second half, Li Yan faced off against James.
Knicks offense.
James defended Li Yan and he let Li Yan go.
It's just that Li Yan's speed exceeded James' expectations. After a drastic change of direction, he squeezed past James' side.
The big Z basket defends one against two and is in a dilemma.
Li Yan didn't hesitate at all and launched a one-arm slam.
"WOW!" Everyone in Madison Garden stood up, and the fans chanted Li Yan's name crazily.
Cavaliers' offense.
After the basketball reaches the frontcourt, it is still given to James.
Big Z covered his crotch and put James in the pick-and-roll. After the screen, Randolph switched to guard James.
Facing the breakthrough James, Randolph didn't have much to do. He could only pull James down from the sky.
James walked to the free throw line, "Whoa!" "Whoa!"
Both penalties.
Knicks round.
After Li Yan came to the frontcourt, he signaled to pull away again.
He just wants to beat James alone.
"Fuck me!"
"Pick James to fight?"
"Master Li is so awesome."
"6!"
"Just asking who else?"
Physical confrontation is James' advantage, but in such a one-on-one situation, James does not dare to get too close to Li Yan.
Although he didn't know why Li Yan changed so much, after several rounds of direct duel, James found that Li Yan's instant acceleration surpassed his.
Li Yan's change of direction made James' scalp numb. The amplitude and speed were exactly the same as Allen Iverson's double CROSSOver.
James tried his best and did not lose his position for two consecutive back and forths, but Li Yan still found a rhythm gap through the ultimate explosion at the moment of collecting the ball.
"Whoosh!" Li Yan shook James' center of gravity away again.
In terms of instantaneous acceleration, Li Yan was still better.
James' defense is already in place, but he is still passive.
Li Yan broke into the inside line and faced Gu Deng who was assisting in defense.
With one move, "Gyro Turn", Gooden was instantly thrown away.
Li Yan easily completed an underhand layup.
A set of combos that are pleasing to the eye, and the fans are mesmerized.
"Oooooo!"
"Li is too strong."
"Mad, this is the star!"
"Fuck LeBron!"
After Li Yan scored, he raised his hands to signal the fans to cheer louder.
The fans in the stands immediately responded to Li Yan by shouting at the top of their lungs. They were so happy tonight.
After the Knicks got Li Yan, they finally stood up. The fans were really fed up with the feeling of being beaten by others.
Cavaliers' offense.
James held the ball past halftime, and this time he also signaled his teammates to pull away.
Being pulled away by Li Yan for consecutive singles, James couldn't help but feel embarrassed.
James' breakthrough is very simple, just take a step back and directly put into gear to lower the center of gravity.
"Bang!" James directly pushed Li Yan in.
"Fuck!" Li Yan felt like he had been hit by a truck.
James opened the distance just to speed up. Li Yan was overthinking. He thought James would show off his long-range shooting ability.
Now it seems that James' shooting can only be guaranteed if it is at a fixed point.
Li Yan was knocked away by James, but he still followed closely behind James.
Just when James took off to attack the basket, Li Yan also flew up from behind.
"Whoa!" Li Yan was just a little short of completing the block. General James avoided Li Yan's long arm and finished with a layup.
…………
Li Yan and James fought wildly in the third quarter, which made the fans excited.
James still relies more on his body, while Li Yan has more technical changes.
From a look and feel point of view, Li Yan is even better.
At the end of the third quarter, the Knicks still had a 6-point lead.
After the start of the fourth quarter, neither Li Yan nor James took a break.
James is an out-and-out physical monster, while Li Yan used the rest between sessions to complete his "recharging".
So in the fourth quarter, Li Yan had the upper hand in the duel with James.
After all, James' "6000 mAh ultra-long battery life" is no match for Li Yan's unplugging and direct replacement of the battery.
But James obviously won't admit defeat so easily. The only way to help the team is to score.
He began to frequently feed the ball to the inside, and then stood with his hands on his hips outside the three-point line to recover blood.
The Cavaliers' inside line lived up to James' trust, and Big Z succeeded in consecutive strong attacks.
The Cavaliers successfully weathered the vacuum period when James' physical strength declined.
For the Knicks, the shortcomings of the lack of systematic training during the offseason are beginning to show.
Zach Randolph and Ron Artest's efficiency dropped significantly as their physical fitness declined.
Isiah Thomas had to make substitution adjustments, but Eddie Curry, who came on the court, only had three or four minutes to refresh himself.
He was defeated by Big Z, who was much older than him.
"Fake, except for Lee, is still a bunch of rotten fish." Knicks fans in the stands complained.
"Eddie Curry, that damn fat guy, started panting after running four times back and forth. Mad, it won't be like this if I go up!"
"Damn, you're bragging a little bit. Although Eddie Curry is a loser, what kind of trouble did you make when you went up there?
Can you hit Big Z's chest when you jump up? "
…………
By the end of the fourth quarter, the Knicks, except for Li Yan, were a little unbeatable, but the Cavaliers were still relatively vigorous.
With 40 seconds left in the game, the Cavaliers led by 2 points.
At the critical moment, Li Yan stopped passing the ball and called for cover, just doing it himself.
Li Yan relied on the pick-and-roll to get rid of James, rushed inside and faced the big Z that was over 220cm. Li Yan threw a super-high arc throw.
"Whoa!" Hit again.
This big Z ball has blocked all angles, but I didn't expect Li Yan to hit a throw with such a high arc.
"Wow! That's awesome, Li's touch is so soft."
"It's so comprehensive. Lee is the player with the strongest offensive power near the basket."
"Without Lee, we would have lost a long time ago. The Knicks are still the same Knicks, but they were taken away by Lee."
The fans in the stands were conquered by Li Yan.
From their point of view, winning or losing this game is no longer important, as long as they have Li Yan.
But Li Yan didn't think so.
In the next round, Li Yan completed a key steal.
Then he rode through the level alone and completed a one-stop dunk!
108 to 106! The Knicks went ahead by 2 points.
The Cavaliers have a last chance to attack.
James broke through and distributed the ball, but Gibson failed to take over.
The three-pointer missed the basket!
The Knicks narrowly defeated by two points and got a good start to the new season!
