After the live broadcast started, Bill Walton joked at the beginning: "Brother Bill, who do you like more in this game?" "
"Brother Bill, the Knicks have a pair of golden guns in the backcourt, the Madman and the mid-range shooter. It's not easy for the Iron Fist King to beat the Knicks," Laimbeer said.
"Brother Bill, Patrick Ewing is no longer good, and Larry Johnson is even worse than him. Their inside combination cannot take advantage of the SuperSonics inside. The Sonics can even have an advantage in rebounding, and the Madman and the mid-range shooting king are also I can't beat the Iron Fist King, so I side with the Sonics." Bill Walton laughed.
Ranbir cast a sidelong glance at his partner and said angrily: "You are like that bastard Isiah. How often have you not been on that guy's team?
Last time you and he actually knelt down to the Iron Fist King. You are seniors, and you have lost all your dignity. "
Bill Walton laughed and said: "Brother Bill, without our kneeling, would the Iron Fist King really come back?
Don't forget that he earns hundreds of millions of dollars from a boxing match. This time he gave up the four gold belts of the unified king for the NBA. How big is the loss?
I think all of us who rely on the NBA for our jobs should be grateful for his efforts, right? "
Bill Laimbeer shrugged and said no more.
In the player tunnel, the starting lineup of both sides met.
"Tekken King, good evening."
When Alan Houston and Charlie Ward saw Zhou Quan, they immediately greeted him respectfully.
Patrick Ewing, Larry Johnson, and Madman also nodded toward Zhou Quan.
"Alan, Charlie, hello."
Zhou Quan nodded towards Houston and Ward.
Then he smiled and nodded to Ewing, and then smiled and extended his left fist to Larry Johnson. Larry Johnson was startled and quickly touched his fist with his fist.
Larry Johnson sighed deeply in his heart, remembering the time when he competed with the King of Iron Fist for the Rookie of the Year and finally won this honor at the same time. At that time, he was still very unconvinced.
But now, in the face of the achievements of the Iron Fist King, he has no right to be dissatisfied. The Iron Fist King can bump fists with him and greet him with the etiquette of a boxer, which means he thinks highly of him.
Zhou Quan looked at Madman. This guy who entered the league a year after him made a lot of noise after he retired. He was criticized by the national media, but now he has stood up again.
He nodded to the madman and followed his teammates out.
"The King of Iron Fists..."
"Pa bang bang..."
When Zhou Quan appeared on the stage, he received very warm cheers and applause in Madison Square Garden.
There were a bunch of Hollywood stars sitting in the front row, many of whom were his friends. When they saw him coming on stage, they stood up and came over from a distance.
…
At half past eight, the game officially started.
Campbell beats Ewing with a jump ball, and the Sonics attack.
The Madmen, the best perimeter defender, defended Zhou Quan, Alan Houston defended Barry, and point guard Charlie Ward defended small forward Corey Maggette.
This makes rookie Maggette a little depressed. Is he looking down on him by letting a point guard who is ten centimeters shorter and more than ten kilograms lighter guard him?
He immediately entered from the left wing, forced Charlie Ward to get closer to the paint area, then turned around, stretched his arms to both sides, stuck Ward behind him, and asked Zhou Quan for the ball.
Maggette doesn't have a three-pointer yet. The main reason why he has secured the starting position at No. 3 as a rookie is his ability to hold the ball and attack the penalty area.
Zhou Quan made a lot of breakthroughs and definitely needed a rest. At this time, Maggette took over and attacked the penalty area. He is a tactical supplement to Zhou Quan.
The current average time per game is 25 to 28 minutes, but he does not take many shots and averages close to ten points per game. Because he is Zhou Quan's tactical supplement and does not have three-pointers, there are not many opportunities for open shots. Most of them are breakthrough attacks with the ball. However, The current shooting rate is 47.8%, the ability to draw fouls is good, and the performance is not bad.
Zhou Quan passed the ball to Corey Maggette, allowing him to beat the small one with the big one.
Maggette caught the ball in his hand, arched it after dribbling, knocked back Charlie Ward, and immediately turned around to break through with the ball, entering the paint from the right waist.
Just a rookie, Ewing, who was guarding Campbell in the low post on the left wing, did not return to the basket because there was Larry Johnson under the basket.
Corey Maggette was a newborn calf who was not afraid of tigers. After the ball was put together, he jumped towards Larry Johnson with the ball in his arms, and was pulled down by his opponent.
"Beep!"
The referee blew his whistle and pointed at Larry Johnson.
Bill Walton chuckled and said: "The rookie has the ability to draw fouls. Usually when Iron Fist doesn't break through, he does it."
Laimbeer said disdainfully: "That's because there are now rules for reasonable collision zones, so he has the opportunity to do this. In our era, he would be lying on the floor now. If he dared to rush to the basket, he would just lie down."
Maggette's free throws were okay, with a 75% shooting rate. He was lucky and made two free throws.
The Knicks attacked, and Zhou Quan followed up with the madman.
Now the Knicks' first scoring point is mid-range shooting king Alan Houston, the second scoring point is Madman, the old and injured Ewing is the third scoring point, Larry Johnson is the fourth, and backup center Marcus Camby is the third. Five, these are the five Knicks who scored in double figures during the regular season.
Houston averages 19.7 points per game and the Madman 18.6 points. There is not much difference. The Madman's shooting percentage is 5 percentage points lower than the mid-range shooting leader. However, the Madman is the one who breaks through the most with the ball in this Knicks. He is the most lethal and has more free throws than Ewing. If there are more, the threat will be greater, so Zhou Quan chooses to defend him.
With Zhou Quan's defensive deterrence, Charlie Ward, who was in possession of the ball, did not dare to pass the ball over, but handed it to Alan Houston on the right wing.
After receiving the ball, Houston swayed left and right. After Barry's center of gravity moved, he quickly dribbled the ball behind his back, moved one step to the right, and then pulled up.
Minibari's lateral movement speed is average, half a beat slower, and he can no longer block shots.
"brush!"
The water splashed and the three-pointer hit.
"Oh ho!"
Huge cheers erupted in Madison Square Garden.
Bill Walton smiled and said: "The CIC king has already established a foothold here."
"Detroit traitor." Laimbeer said disdainfully.
"Haha!" Bill Walton couldn't help laughing.
When the SuperSonics attacked, Zhou Quan came to the top of the arc and saw Maggette going deep to the left wing again. He was very active in taking position. In order not to dampen the rookie's enthusiasm, he passed the ball over.
After Maggette caught the ball, he seemed very excited and forcefully knocked away Charlie Ward and broke through inside.
Ewing chose to return to defense this time, but his movement speed was far slower than before, a step slower.
After Maggette's run-up, Larry Johnson jumped up again facing the basket.
"Damn rookie!"
Larry Johnson was seriously injured and was even considering retirement. Faced with the impact of Maggette, who was as strong as an ox, he did not dare to engage in aerial confrontation. He adjusted his feet and jumped from the side to block the shot.
"boom!"
The rookie ignored Larry Johnson's block and relied on his strong upper body strength to press the opponent's hand and smash the ball into the basket.
"Beep!"
The referee called a foul on Larry Johnson for the second time, this time a battering foul.
"Oh! Auntie was beaten two plus one by the rookie, and was fouled twice at the beginning." Bill Walton said in surprise.
"These two fouls have no value. The No. 1 pick in 1991 is not even as good as a finger of the Iron Fist King. The stupid Knicks management, they took Larry Johnson's billion-dollar contract, which was the biggest mistake." Lan Bill said disdainfully.
"Shet!"
Having a rookie shit on his head, Larry Johnson looked very ugly, but there was nothing he could do about it. Who made him injured?
"Corey, you did a good job." Zhou Quan came over and encouraged him.
"Yes, boss." Maggette said excitedly.
In this game, Maggette became the most shining star of the Sonics, playing the first highlight moment of his rookie season.
Zhou Quan frequently gave him the ball, and he kept attacking the Knicks' penalty area. He made 10 of 18 shots, a shooting percentage of 55.6%, and 9 of 12 free throws, a shooting percentage of 75%. He scored a game-high 29 points, helping the SuperSonics defeat Knicks and won the best of the game.
After winning this game, the SuperSonics' record became 34 wins and 9 losses.
The Lakers had a losing streak and lost to the Jazz on the road, 33 wins and 9 losses.
In this way, the SuperSonics' regular season record surpassed the Lakers by half a game, ranking first in the Western Conference and first in the league.
Next, in the rest of January, the Sonics defeated the Nets and Bucks one after another, winning 36 and losing 9.
However, the Lakers defeated the Bucks first and then lost to Mosaic. With a record of 34 wins and 10 losses, the winning gap with the SuperSonics widened to 1.5 games.
On February 28th, the league announced the end of All-Star voting.
Zhou Quan created another miracle. After receiving 4.41 million votes in 1997, he received 6.61 million votes this year.
This number of votes far exceeds the historical voting records of the All-Stars of the four major commercial sports leagues in North America.
The NFL launched online voting last year and set a record for the league's highest All-Star voting, which was 4.25 million votes, which was not as good as Zhou Quan's vote count in 1997.
David Stern is ecstatic about this data, as are the team owners. The most popular sports superstar in the United States is in the NBA. They believe that the NBA will regain its glory.
The major media got the All-Star voting results in advance, and Zhou Quan made the front pages of every major media that morning, all with the three huge Arabic numerals "661".
Vince Carter, who finished second in the first week, also received 1.91 million votes. This figure surpassed Michael Jordan's highest number of All-Star votes and was widely praised by the media.
The third place is Mourning, with 1.87 million votes.
Fourth is Iverson with 1.84 million votes.
Fifth is O'Neal, with 1.8 million votes.
Suddenly, under the hype of the media, Vince Carter, who was good at dunking, became the second biggest star in the NBA. His popularity was second only to Zhou Quan.
The other three All-Stars with more than 1.8 million votes also received a lot of attention.
The league also announced the 2000 All-Star roster.
Western Conference starting All-Stars: O'Neal, Duncan, Garnett, Kobe, Zhou Quan.
Western Reserve All-Stars: David Robinson, Karl Malone, Chris Webber, Rasheed Wallace, Jason Kidd, Michael Finley, John Stockton.
Eastern Conference starting All-Stars: Alonzo Mourning, Grant Hill, Vince Carter, Iverson, Gary Payton.
Eastern Conference Substitute All-Stars: Mutombo, Ray Allen, Eddie Jones, Alan Houston, Reggie Miller, Jerry Stackhouse, Dale Davis.
…
On February 1st, the league announced the Player of the Month and MVP rankings for last month.
Zhou Quan won the best of the month for the second time this season, and this was also his 11th time of the month.
At the same time, because his record surpassed the Lakers, he also surpassed O'Neal and topped the official MVP rankings.
After the MVP list was announced, he called O'Neal and joked: "Shark, I've been waiting for a long time, why don't you call me? Didn't you call me every time in the past two months? "
"Why should I call you?" O'Neal said depressedly.
"Shark, you lose when you meet Sabonis and Rasheed Wallace. You lose when you meet the postman. How dare you lose even if you have a dream that is too old to run? You still lose when you meet the Spurs . Anyway, if you encounter a slightly better insider, you will lose everything. Shark, are you not good at it?" Zhou Quan continued to tease.
"I can't do it, I can do it very well!"
Hearing the last sentence, O'Neal was almost furious.
"Haha..." Zhou Quan laughed.
"Dududu..."
O'Neal hung up the phone in anger.
At this time, Whitsitt suddenly received a trade offer from the Spurs.
"Small forward Malik Rose, the No. 15 pick in the second round of 1996, will be replaced by Bruce Bowen." He held the quotation and muttered.
The Spurs are strong on the inside, but not very good on the outside, especially at the second position. They don't even have a main shooting guard, and several role players rotate into the starting lineup.
But the Spurs' third position is average. The main small forward Mario Elie is almost 37 years old and is about to retire, and there is no one available at the third position.
"Did Popovich take a fancy to Bowen's defense? Haha!"
Without too much consideration, it is absolutely impossible for him to use his own players to strengthen the Spurs. The Spurs are now the Sonics' strongest competitor.
"Refuse, tell Mr. Popovich that Bowen is not for sale." He threw the quotation on the table and told his assistant.
"Pfft!"
The assistant burst out laughing instantly.
"Is he not for sale? An undrafted pick that no one wants, a broken minimum-salary player, he's not for sale!" Popovich couldn't help but cursed after receiving the reply from the Sonics.
February 3rd is the trade deadline of this season. On Thursday of the 16th week, many teams have made final transactions before the trade deadline.
After turning down the Spurs, Whitsitt received several offers.
The Pistons are interested in Ben Wallace, the Magic are interested in Corey Maggette, and the Bulls are interested in Brad Miller.
The chips were very low, and they were intended to be missed in his hands, so these transactions were rejected by him as a trader.
The combined annual salary of these three young players is only 2 million. Although they have shown some potential in three months, the transaction value is too small and it is not the best time to trade now.
Especially Ben Wallace. This is a treasure he picked up. Even the Sharks can carry him. He can't find a better center at all. How can he trade it out?
February 3rd is the trading deadline and the trading window is closed.
…
(End of chapter)
